Glee: We are Family
by A-LionGleek
Summary: 22 years after Season 4, all the gleeks have moved on in their lives, and all are living happy futures. But the time has now come for them all to come together once again, and be the family of friends they used to be. Meanwhile, back at McKinley, Mr. Schuester has gathered a brand new generation of New Directions. What plans does Fate have for the 2 combined generations of gleeks?
1. A Close Brush with Death

**Chapter 1:**

**A Close Brush With Death**

Finn Hudson smiled as he walked through the produce aisle of the local Food Lion with his grocery cart. All around him, he could see the signs of yet another normal summer Wednesday morning at the grocery store in Lima, Ohio. From the customers walking around in search of the groceries they'd come to buy, to the cashiers at the checkout lines calmly awaiting the customers at their cash registers for the money that would inevitably be handed over in payment, everyone in the grocery store was doing exactly what would be expected of them at a grocery store. "Including myself," he thought to himself as he grabbed a bag of green seedless grapes and placed it in his cart with the rest of his groceries.

With the grapes in his cart, Finn reached into his pocket and pulled out his grocery list. Going over the different items he'd circled on his list, he compared his indicated inventory on the list with what he had in his cart, and smiled as he saw that he'd now gotten everything he currently needed to buy from the store that day. Smiling, he folded the list back up, placed it back into his pocket, and started pushing his grocery cart out of the produce aisle as he set off towards the checkout lines.

As he calmly headed over towards the checkout lines, Finn couldn't help but grin and rub his fingers through his dark brown hair as he thought of how much his life was now so successful and filled with happiness for him these days. He remembered so clearly how he had been nervous and unsure of what he'd do with his life after graduating from high school during his senior year at William McKinley High School. If he could have met his past self right at that moment, he would have been happy to reassure him about how well his life would turn out in the future. Admittedly, his life after graduating, and even before graduating, had not always been easy, or joyful. However, in the end, he had to admit that he was doing quite well.

Ever since he'd graduated at the top of his class from the University of Lima, he had eagerly set out into the world with his teaching degree at the ready. Within days, he had scored a post as American Literature teacher at the Lima Senior High School. In the many months that had followed, he couldn't have been happier in his new job. He couldn't believe just how much he'd enjoyed teaching his many students. In fact, even he himself found it hard to believe just how popular he'd turned out to be among the students, and even the faculty. He smiled, and shook his head side to side in disbelief. He sure was one lucky man.

Seconds later, right as Finn was a few steps away from the nearest checkout line, he suddenly heard a song coming from the radio that made him halt in his tracks. He listened intently at the music. "It can't be," he whispered under his breath. But it was. It was none other, than the Journey classic, Don't Stop Believing. As the song continued to play, Finn could only stand where he was in shock as he listened to the song that had become such an important part of his life; and as he listened, his mind instantly traveled back to the most recent time he'd listened to that very song before this very day.

. . . . .

(Flashback)

It was the very last day of school that year, and Finn was in his class room packing his things up to go home. He smiled as he thought of the last few hours he'd spent with his students before they left high school for the last time that school year. He already knew that he would enjoy his next year of teaching at this school, just like he had at the end of the last four years he'd taught at Lima Senior High.

Right as Finn finished packing and was about to sling his work bag and laptop case over his shoulder, he heard a voice behind him say, "Excuse me, could I speak with you for a few minutes?" Finn turned his head and saw a boy of about 14 to 15 years old standing in the doorway to the classroom. At the sight of the boy, Finn took in the ivory skin, golden blonde hair, and icy blue eyes, and smiled as he recognized the boy as Lucas Rhodes. Lucas had been at the top of all his classes, especially in American Literature. In fact, Finn had to admit that Lucas was quite honestly one of his favorite students. Finn couldn't have been prouder when he'd learned that Luke had successfully passed his sophomore year with flying colors. In fact, the only person who'd been prouder than Finn, was Luke's mother, April, who'd already made a big name for herself as an actress and had not let any of the negative events from her past, least of all her unexpectedly becoming a mother or her divorce from her husband after Luke's birth, hold her back.

Smiling still, Finn beckoned for Luke to come closer. "Good afternoon Luke! How is everything?"

Luke walked into the classroom and stopped when he was just a few footsteps away from Finn. Luke nervously looked towards the door to the classroom and asked, "Could you close the door?"

Concerned, Finn walked over to the doorway, closed the door, and walked back to his desk. Sitting at his desk, Finn gestured for Luke to sit in front of his desk. Luke promptly dragged his desk over towards the desk and sat down facing Finn.

Finn leaned towards the young boy, his concern clearly showing, and asked, "Is something wrong?"

Luke nodded, and said, "Have I ever told you about how I'm a very close friend of Mara's?"

Finn nodded, for he himself had seen Luke hanging out with Mara Hanlon around the school. From what he'd seen, it had been easy for him to guess that the two were very close friends.

Luke took a deep breath, and continued, "Well, I think I might have romantic feelings for her." At the sound of these words, Finn smiled.

However, Luke wasn't finished yet, and he continued, "It started last Saturday when we were hanging out together at my house. Well ok, I know we'd done that sort of thing ever since we first became friends without anything out of the ordinary happening. But last Saturday, we were sitting in the living room of my house watching The Lion King, and at one point, Mara held my hand. I was surprised, and when I looked at her afterward, she made such a happy smile at me that I felt like I wanted to kiss her."

Finn smiled, and said, "Luke, I am so proud of you. I couldn't think of a more perfect person for you to spend the rest of your life with. But why did you want to talk to me about this right now?"

Luke looked nervously around the room as if he were expecting something terrible to happen at any moment.

Finn noticed this, and calmly said to Luke, "Luke, you can trust me. I won't let anything hurt you. Just tell me. If you need help with this, I'm more than willing to provide it."

Luke looked into his teacher's dark brown eyes and saw the sincerity in them. "He's right," Luke thought to himself "I can trust him." Seconds later, after a brief hesitation, Luke said "Well, I've never really felt this way for anyone before. I mean, surely you'd understand that it is a bit difficult to come to terms with your first crush." Finn nodded in agreement, for he knew exactly what Luke meant.

Luke continued by saying, "However, I've also noticed that Tyler Landon has been spending a lot of time with her over the last few months, and I'm not sure if it's worth the risk to tell her about my feelings. I mean, come on, he's the freaking quarterback. Surely there's no way a nerdy scholar like me can possibly compare to a guy like him? Is there?"

Finn gently placed his right hand on Luke's shoulder, and replied, "Luke you have perfectly good chances of being Mara's boyfriend just as much as Tyler. Next time you see Mara, just go ahead and tell her. If she's truly your friend, she'll almost certainly accept your feelings and maybe even love you back. Who knows, she might very well be dying to hear you tell her that you love her."

Luke nodded, but then stated, "I know, but still, what if she doesn't? She's one of the only friends I have ever had here, and if she doesn't love me back, then my loving her might freak her out, and I don't want our friendship to end like that."

Finn replied, "Come on Luke, she's your best friend. Do you really think that she'd do something that drastic over you telling her that you love her?"

Luke thought to himself for a few minutes, and eventually replied, "I guess she wouldn't. Still, what about Tyler? I've seen the way he's looked at her, and he's an awful lot bigger and stronger than me. If I tell Mara that I love her and he turns out to be in love with her as well, he might very well become my enemy, and I'm not sure if he's the kind of guy that I want to get on the bad side of. In fact, that's why I waited till now to tell you about this, because at this time, I know that he won't be here to overhear."

Finn nodded, for he certainly understood what Luke was saying. He took a deep breath, exhaled, and said, "Luke, I understand that you're afraid, but sometimes, all you need is thirty seconds of insane courage, and you'd be surprised at the things you can do. Tell me, just how strong are your feelings for Mara?"

Luke replied without hesitation, "Like I want to spend the rest of my life with her. I feel as if I would do anything to protect her, even if it meant jumping in front of a bullet. Whenever I'm around her, I feel so happy, so good inside, that I never want the feeling to end. Whenever she's sad, I feel sad to, and whenever she laughs, I feel as if I'm flying, and with wings too, not the crap that airplanes do; I just feel that happy around her."

Finn immediately responded, "Then that's what you need to tell her. The next time you see her, just tell her how you feel, and if she accepts your feelings, go ahead and invite her to go to Breadstix with you for dinner."

Luke thought to himself for a few minutes, and eventually responded, "Well, I guess I could try, but I'm not sure if I'll have the courage to do this. What if I say it wrong? What if Tyler's there? I don't know if I can do this Mr. Hudson."

Finn sighed, for Luke had brought up a valid point. Seconds later, Finn suddenly came up with an idea. He reached down for his laptop case, got out his laptop, and turned it on. Within minutes, he had gone onto YouTube and found just the right video he needed.

Seconds later, after turning up the volume as high as he could, he said to Luke, "Luke, I want you to listen to this. I think that this might be just the song you need to listen to." Immediately after this, with Luke's attention fixed intently towards Finn and the laptop, Finn clicked on the link for the mp3 recording of Journey's Don't Stop Believing.

For the entire duration of the song, Finn and Luke listened intently to the music. As Luke listened he thought of how appropriately it applied to how he needed to believe in himself and in the strength of his friendship with Mara as well as that of his feelings for her. However, as Finn listened, he suddenly found himself thinking of all the time he'd spent with his numerous friends in glee club back when he was in high school as well as during his first few years after graduating.

As Finn thought about his many wonderful experiences with his friends in glee club, he thought about all his many friends and remembered how much they'd all seemed like family to him. As he remembered each different friend from glee club, he found himself closer to tears as he thought of how each of them had all moved on in their lives in their own special ways after their days in high school were over. However, he finally found himself having no choice but to start crying when he thought about Rachel Berry, his former fiancé who was even now one of the most famous Broadway actresses in the entire world just like she'd always dreamed of, and how he himself had let her go so that he wouldn't hold her back from her biggest dream apart from having him as her husband. Before long, he was no longer even listening to the music coming from his laptop as he thought of how long it had been since he and all the other members of the glee club had all been together. The last time they'd all been together at the same place at the same time was when they'd all watched Rachel at her first big performance in Broadway. At the time, she had been playing the part of Fanny Brice in the newly revived Broadway classic, Funny Girl. He remembered clearly how euphoric he'd felt while watching his long-time love interest perform her heart out on the stage, and how he'd cheered and clapped as enthusiastically as he could whenever the situation demanded for cheering and clapping. Now, listening to Don't Stop Believing, he realized just how much he truly missed her and all his other friends in the New Directions glee club.

When the song finally ended, Luke clapped and cheered. As he did this, Luke thought, "That's it. I am going to invite Mara over to my house again tonight, and I am going to follow Mr. Hudson's advice and tell her how I feel." Luke was just about to jump up from his desk and head out to the parking lot of the school when he realized that he needed to thank Mr. Hudson. He looked straight towards his teacher to thank him, and his eyes opened wide with shock when he saw his teacher crying his eyes out. Stunned by the sight, he asked, "Mr. Hudson, are you ok?"

Finn looked up; his eyes still wet, saw Luke looking at him with surprise and concern, and sniffed before wiping his eyes and responding, "I'm fine. I was just . . . thinking of my friends."

Luke made a silent 'oh' with his mouth, and sat in his desk in silence for a few seconds as he let the information sink in. Eventually, he said, "You miss them don't you?"

Finn looked up and asked, "How did you . . . ?"

Luke responded, "Come on Mr. Hudson, you talk about them all the time, and you just now started crying while listening to a song that you yourself said that you once performed with some of them in high school."

When Finn heard this, he realized that Luke was right. He truly did miss his friends from the glee club. Seconds later, Luke said, "If you miss your friends that much, then why don't you invite them to come over to Lima?"

Finn almost immediately responded, "What? I can't do that!"

"Why not?" Luke asked.

"They wouldn't be able to come! They're too busy with their own lives now! They don't have time to let the past hold them back!"

"How do you know?" Luke responded back. "There's nothing wrong with inviting them all to come here for a New Directions reunion. Besides, even if they can't come here in person, you could at least talk to them on the phone and invite them. For all you know, they might very well be feeling exactly the same way you're feeling right now."

Finn was about to respond to this when he realized that, once again, Luke was right. He thought to himself about the matter. He had never before even thought about inviting his friends back over to Lima to hang out with him. As he thought about the idea, he realized with a start just how much the idea appealed to him. As he continued to think about it, he wondered if he truly could see his friends again that easily. Oh how he hoped that it was that easy. Still, he knew it would probably be a good idea to at least have some time to think about it and consider it some more before inviting them all over to Lima for a New Directions reunion.

Eventually, he looked back at Luke and said, "You know what, I think you're right."

Luke immediately responded, "Then do it! Invite all of your glee club friends over! Do anything you want! Nothing's gonna stop you!"

Finn said, "Calm down dude. I still need some time to think about it."

"Oh . . . right," Luke said in response. "You're right, I did kind of bring this on you out of the blue. You can take all the time you need. I'm just excited at the idea of you hanging out with all your friends and being happy."

Finn smiled, and responded, "I know. I understand. Thank you."

Luke smiled back, and replied, "Your welcome. In fact, I was about to thank you as well."

Finn, still smiling, responded, "Your welcome, I was happy to help. I wish you luck."

Luke grinned, stood up, and said, "Thank you. You're the best teacher ever," before picking up his backpack and walking out the door. As he left the classroom, he turned his head and yelled, "See you later Mr. Hudson!" before turning his head back away and running down the hall towards the door way of the school leading to the parking lot. As Finn watched Luke getting picked up by his mother soon afterward, Finn smiled once again, happy to see his favorite student on his way to pursue a very big dream.

. . . . .

Exactly one month later, as Finn stood there by his grocery cart at the Food Lion, listening to Don't Stop Believing, Finn remembered his little discussion with Luke the other day and also the very same memories that had brought him to tears that day. As he had the thought, he thought to himself, "Maybe I should invite some of my friends from New Directions over to Lima. It certainly has been a while since I last saw them."

Finn was abruptly jarred out of his reverie when he heard a familiar voice call out from behind him, "Hey there Mr. Hudson! How's everything going?"

Finn turned his head and saw none other than Luke standing behind him. Standing right next to Luke, was a girl about Luke's age that Finn instantly recognized as Mara. Behind the two teenagers, was an attractive blonde woman that Finn was pleased to recognize as Luke's mother April.

Smiling, Finn said, "Hello there! Wasn't expecting to see you here!"

Luke smiled back, and responded enthusiastically, "Neither was I! But I'm glad you're here! I wanted to thank you for helping me out the other day!"

"That you certainly did," April said in agreement with her son before looking at Finn and saying, "I had a feeling that you were the 'Mr. Hudson' that my son keeps on talking about."

Finn smiled, and responded, "Thanks. It's a pleasure to have your son as one of my students Ms. Rhodes."

April smiled, and said, "I'll bet it is. Speaking of which, it is just as much a pleasure for me to be seeing you after all these years. Will and Emma talk about you and your friends from the glee club all the time."

Finn's already large smile grew immense, and he asked, "Really?"

"You bet they do," April replied. "I'll bet they'll get a kick out of this when I tell them that I ran into you at Food Lion today." No sooner had April said this, when she leaned over and said to Luke, "Alright Luke, I'm going to go checkout now. You and Mara can stay here and talk to Mr. Hudson while you're waiting. I'll call you over when I'm done ok?"

"You got it mom," Luke replied with a smile. Smiling, April acknowledged what her son had said, said goodbye to Finn, and headed off to the checkout lines.

The minute April took her place in the line, Finn said to Luke, "I see that you and Mara are together."

Luke smiled, and responded, "That we are! I can't thank you enough!"

Mara smiled, her dark eyes agleam with pleasure, and said, "You can say that again Luke! You have no idea how long I've been waiting for you to admit that you loved me."

Luke rolled his eyes and replied jokingly, "And how many times have you said that now? A hundred? Two hundred? Oh I remember now! This is the second time!"

Mara laughed and tossed her curly shoulder-length red hair over her shoulder before turning back to Finn and saying, "Anyway, now that I'm thinking about it, I'd like to thank you as well. After all, if it hadn't been for you, Luke would never have had the courage to admit his feelings for me and I would have been forced to accept that stuck-up brute, Tyler's, proposal for me to be his girlfriend when he asked me to go to Breadstix with him for dinner last Sunday."

Finn smiled, for he was certainly glad that Mara had been spared from such a fate when she and Luke were so obviously made for each other. He then said, "So, what happened when he learned about the thing going on between you two?"

Mara chuckled, and said, "Oh you should have seen the look on his face! He was furious when Luke and I told him that we were already dating."

Luke said, "I still think we should be careful about this matter. With the look he had in his eyes when he found out about us, I wouldn't be all that willing to underestimate him."

Mara looked back at Luke and replied, "It's ok Luke, everything will be fine. Honestly, there's no reason to worry about him as far as I can tell."

Finn chuckled, and chimed in, "She is right Luke. I mean come on, what's he gonna do? Come after you with a shot gun?"

Unfortunately, the instant Finn said this, the peaceful atmosphere was abruptly shattered with the unmistakable sound of a gunshot.

Finn reared up with a jolt, horrified by the sound. After what seemed like an eternity, his ears started ringing with the sound of all the people in the store screaming as the gun was heard going off outside the store two more times.

Suddenly, he heard an inarticulate howl of rage, and he turned his head towards the door just in time to see a burly teenage boy with glossy black hair styled in a buzz cut burst his way through the glass sliding doors without even bothering to wait for them to open automatically. His face was contorted in a furious snarl, and a large AK-47 assault rifle was clutched tightly in his hands with a vice-like grip. Finn gaped in shock at the boy. With one look, the boy was easily recognizable as Tyler Landon. As Finn gazed at the enraged student, he remembered his experiences with Tyler as his student. Despite Tyler's undeniable natural talent as the quarterback in the football team, his less than stellar academic work combined with his bullying attitude had continuously made him one of Finn's most troublesome students. However, he had still not expected that Tyler would go so far as to burst into a grocery store with a rifle and try to kill one of his fellow students.

Tyler snarled, and yelled, "You think this is scary? I'll show you some sheer terror!" before firing off a series of rapid shots in random directions. Within seconds, pandemonium ensued as all the innocent people stampeded in all directions to try to avoid the mad shooter. Tyler watched the scene unfolding around him, and smiled arrogantly. "Serves them right," he thought to himself. "About time these people learned who's in charge around here." Immediately after he had this thought, he looked up, and saw Luke and Mara standing a few meters in front of him, paralyzed with horror. At the sight of his rival for Mara's affections, Tyler growled angrily like a dog, and aimed his gun straight at Luke's heart.

In a flash, right as Tyler was about to open fire at Luke, Finn charged straight on towards Tyler and yelled, "No!" before lunging into Tyler and sending him off balance right as he fired. The bullet soared harmlessly through the air and struck one of the overhanging lights. Sparks flew wildly from the lamp.

For a few seconds, Finn and Tyler struggled furiously. Eventually, Tyler nailed Finn in the chest with a stomp kick, sending the teacher stumbling backwards. As Finn swayed around off balance, Tyler quickly got his rifle back into position and fired at Finn. The bullet struck Finn right in the right side of his abdomen, point blank. Finn fell to the floor and screamed in agony as he felt the hot blood pour from the wound.

Tyler lowered his gun, snarled at the prone form lying down in front of him, and said, "I'll deal with you later," before he suddenly heard footsteps running towards him. Without thinking, he turned and fired a hurried shot without bothering to check where he was aiming. The bullet hit Luke in the ankle as he was running towards the two figures, and he fell down on his hands and knees, howling in pain. Tyler roared in anger, pointed his gun at the area between Luke's eyes, and hissed in derision, "This ends, now."

However, right as Tyler was about to pull the trigger, Mara yelled, "No!" and threw herself at him. She crashed into Tyler with all her weight and sent him flying down onto his side. The gun flew out of Tyler's hands and landed on the floor, causing it to go off and send Finn's grocery cart skidding around in circles. For a few minutes, Tyler and Mara wrestled furiously with a vengeance. Tyler could only snarl in irritation and try his best to shield himself as Mara mercilessly punched, kicked, bit, and scratched at him. Eventually, Tyler punched Mara in the face and sent her falling down on her back. The instant Tyler found himself free from Mara, he hurried over to get his gun. Mara grabbed him by the ankle right as he was running past her and he fell flat on his face. Unfortunately, he had landed with the gun in his reach, and he grabbed it. Immediately afterward, Tyler swung it over his shoulder and slammed it down on Mara's head, causing her to let go of his ankle.

Furious, and feeling betrayed, Tyler stood up and aimed his gun straight at the top of Mara's head before saying, "I would have preferred to leave you alive, but now you've given me no choice." Having said this, Tyler prepared once again to pull the trigger of his gun.

Fortunately for Mara, Tyler had completely forgotten about Luke in his rage, and Luke had now sufficiently recovered enough to barrel straight towards the bloodthirsty psychopath. With a roar of rage, he slammed himself into Tyler shoulder-first, sending the two boys hurtling to the side. Tyler attempted to maneuver his gun into a position from which he could shoot Luke, but Luke grabbed the rifle and wrenched it out of Tyler's hands before slamming it down on his knee and breaking it in half.

Tyler, now outraged beyond reason by how his plans were now failing, swung his fist towards Luke's face in a powerful roundhouse. Luke blocked the punch with his raised arm and kicked Tyler in the chest, sending the burly boy flying backward. Tyler stumbled back a few paces before eventually regaining his footing and running straight back towards Luke. In a flash, right as Luke was getting ready to punch Tyler, Tyler grabbed Luke's fist and swung his rival right over him before slamming Luke down hard on the floor. Luke recovered quickly, and with a swing of his left leg, he swept Tyler's legs out from under him and sent him crashing down on his back even harder then Luke himself had been slammed.

No sooner had Tyler been subdued in this way, when Luke got up on his feet with great effort, hopped up onto Tyler and rammed his fist down onto Tyler's face. Tyler gasped in shock and pain as Luke's fist slammed down on his face, and Luke, enraged started viciously punching Tyler in the face again and again while shouting, "Stop!" repeatedly.

Seconds later, Mara ran up to Luke, put her hands on his shoulders, and said, "Luke stop! It's ok. He's done." Luke looked at Mara, saw the pleading in her eyes, and reluctantly lowered his fist. Tyler looked up towards his rival, just in time to see Luke grab him by the lapel and drag him up onto his feet.

Luke snarled at Tyler, and whispered under his breath, "You will rue this day for the rest of your life," before punching the hulking boy in the jaw with a powerful right hook, knocking him out. No sooner had Tyler slumped over unconscious, when a squadron of security officers came rushing over. Two of the officers grabbed Tyler by the shoulders and dragged him away after Luke let go, another group of them went off to cordon the site off, and the rest spread out to see if all the innocent civilians were ok.

The instant April saw her son standing where he was with one leg bleeding, she ran over to him and squeezed him tightly in a hug. "Oh God, I'm so glad you're ok," she said with a sob as she embraced her son.

Luke responded, "It's ok mom. I'm fine. We all are now."

Mara immediately joined in the hug, and said to Luke, "You were so brave Luke. If he had killed you, I would have never forgiven myself."

Luke sniffed, and reassured her that everything would be fine.

Seconds later, one of the security officers walked over to the three embracing people and asked Luke to get down so he could examine his ankle. "I'm fine for now," Luke said before pointing at Finn and saying, "But he needs urgent medical help right now."

The officer looked in the direction that Luke was pointing, saw Finn lying down on his back in a pool of blood and howling in agony, and promptly turned his head to his fellow officers before yelling, "Someone call 911!"

Meanwhile, Finn could only lie down on the floor in agony, helpless as the blood continued to pour from the wound in his abdomen. He didn't even notice when the security officers gently picked him up and carried him outside the store. He didn't notice when the police arrived, stuffed the unconscious Tyler in the police cruiser and drove off to bring him to the precinct. Nor did he notice when the ambulance arrived and he was laid down on a gurney and rolled into the ambulance before the ambulance driver revved up the engine and started on his way to the hospital. He didn't even notice when Luke and Mara came up to him and did their best to reassure him that everything would be fine before Luke was eventually coaxed into sitting down so that a paramedic could examine his ankle. All Finn could feel was the blazing pain throughout his body. All he could see were hazy images of his friends swimming before his eyes. All he could hear was the imaginary sound of their voices shouting and begging for him to hang on and to stay alive. In that moment, as all this was happening, Finn thought to himself, "No, I will not die. Not like this. Not without saying a proper goodbye to my friends," before he eventually blacked out, and there was nothing but darkness and pain.


	2. Life is Short - Friendship is Forever

**Wow! I'm quite proud to have noticed that I already have two follows, one favorite, and one review! I am also pleased to have seen that quite a lot of you have viewed my story. With this in mind, I am very happy to inform you that here is the second chapter of my story! I hope you enjoy this one just as much as you appear to have enjoyed the first one! Btw, I would really feel happy if I were to receive more reviews. It kind of hurts my feelings that I only received one review. If your unable to review, I understand, but I still hope that you could please send me a more reviews for my story, hopefully for every chapter. Well anyway, enjoy!**

**Chapter 2:**

**Life is Short; Friendship is Forever**

A week later, William Schuester was waiting patiently in the waiting room at the local hospital. As he sat there listening for the number he'd drawn to be called, his mind was swimming with anxiety over what had happened to his former student, Finn Hudson, the very person he'd now come to visit. When he'd heard on the news about what had happened, he'd been horrified enough by the fact that a shooting had taken place at the Food Lion. However, when he'd received the phone call from Finn's mother, Carole, and learned about how Finn had been shot and was now at the hospital, his heart had skipped a beat. In fact, immediately after the call was over, he and his wife Emma had promptly gotten into their car and driven over to the hospital so that they could be there to witness the operation alongside Carole and Burt Hummel. When the operation had been completed and he and the others had been told to wait outside to await further news, Mr. Schuester had been just as overjoyed as the other audience members when the head surgeon had told him that Finn had survived the operation. Now, exactly one week later, Finn had been deemed to be sufficiently recovered enough to have visitors, and upon hearing the news, Mr. Schuester had gone over to the hospital in a heartbeat.

Now, as he sat in the waiting room between Emma and Carole, and also nearby Burt, listening intently for their number to be called, Mr. Schuester looked around him. All around him he could see other people in the room with the same anxious look on their face that he himself had. Others were calm and collected, and were obviously just at the hospital for a regular checkup or similar routine doctor's appointment. Will sighed to himself as he thought of how very lucky his former student was to still be alive. Finn could very easily have gone into shock from loss of blood, or he could have just as easily been shot in a more fatal spot when the shooter had fired at him. As Will had the thought, he found himself all the more relieved that Finn was alive. Finn was only forty years old, and still had an entire life of greatness ahead of him. Besides, he knew how naturally kind and good hearted Finn was, and knew that he deserved more than anyone to have the chance to say a proper goodbye to his friends and family before he died.

All of a sudden, Will was knocked back down to Earth when he heard a voice next to him shout frantically, "I can't take this anymore! Why won't they just call us up already!? I need to see my son!"

Will sighed, and turned his head towards Carole while Emma leaned over to try to talk to Carole as well. Will said, "Mrs. Hudson, please be patient. They just called the last person to arrive here before us a few minutes ago. They're bound to call us up fairly soon."

Emma chimed in, "Will's right Carole. We should be called up at any minute."

Carole turned her head towards the Schuesters, her eyes on the verge of tears, and she yelled, "I don't care! He's still my son! I need to see him alive, I need to see him awake, and I need to see him now!"

Burt leaned over to his wife and said, "Carole please, I need you to be strong. Shouting around won't make our number get called any faster. Besides, we don't need your son to see you getting all AC-DC over having to wait. He probably needs time to fully prepare himself mentally to discuss anything with us. Besides, he's a fighter. He's already handled far worse than having to wait for visitors to come."

At that moment, a nurse entered the waiting room from the door that led further into the hospital and called, "Would Mr. Will Schuester and his group please come over?" At the sound of their being called, the entire group got up from their seats and walked over to the nurse.

The instant Mr. Schuester and his companions had followed the nurse out of the waiting room, Carole asked, "My son . . . is he . . . ?"

The nurse replied "He's perfectly fine. In fact, ever since we told him that this was the first day that visitors could come see him, he's spent the last hour asking us over and over again if you'd arrived yet."

At the sound of those words, Will chuckled, and shook his head side to side. He should have known that Finn would have anticipated their arrival at the hospital to visit him.

The nurse then said, "Shall I take you to him?"

Will immediately responded, "Yes. Go ahead." Without another word, the nurse started walking down the hall with the four guests following close behind her.

Eventually, the five adults reached the room with a sign that said 'Finn Hudson' on the door. Upon reaching the door, the nurse knocked on the door thrice before opening it. On the other side of the now open door, the entire group saw that they hadn't been the first guests to visit Finn. Sitting down in chairs right next to the bed where Finn reclined, was a young teenage boy with blonde hair who had his leg in a cast and a crutch leaning up against his chair, a girl with red hair about the same age as the boy, and a blonde woman in her late fifties who looked so similar to the young boy that she was likely the boy's mother. At the sound of the door opening, the woman turned her head, and Will was surprised when he recognized her as April Rhodes.

"April," Will said. "What are you doing here?"

April smiled, gestured towards Finn, and replied, "I guess the same reason you came here Will; to visit your former student."

Upon hearing all this, Finn smiled, looked towards the open door to his room, and said, "Hey there."

Will smiled, and said, "Good to see you Finn, though I must admit that the last time I promised to come visit you again, I did not expect to be visiting you in a hospital."

Finn chuckled, and replied, "I can totally agree with you there." He then turned his head towards the young boy and said, "Luke, is it ok if you leave right now? No offense, but I'd like to talk with my mom and former teacher."

The young boy nodded, and replied, "Sure, it's about time for me to go home anyway, though it may be a while before I'm fully used to walking around with this crutch." With a grunt of effort, Luke got up from his chair, positioned his crutch, and made his way out of the room with his mother and the girl, close behind him.

As they left, the ginger-haired girl turned her head back towards Finn and said, "Thanks again Mr. Hudson. I know that you probably would have preferred not to have gotten shot, but thank you again for saving Luke's life."

Finn smiled, and replied, "No problem Mara, take care."

Mara smiled, and turned away to keep up with Luke and his mom.

The nurse then said, "I'll leave you four alone with the patient for now." Upon saying this, the nurse left the room and closed the door behind her.

The minute the nurse left, the four other guests turned their heads towards Finn, who smiled, happy to see them. Burt looked down towards Finn and asked, "You ok there?"

Finn replied, "Better than before."

Will then said, "Well I'm glad to see you awake and healthy. If you'd died, I'm not sure if I would have ever forgiven myself."

Finn shook his head side to side and responded, "It's fine Mr. Schue. It wasn't your fault that I got shot."

Carole promptly said, "You wouldn't believe how happy I am to see you alive Finn. If you had died, it would have killed me. I've already lost one husband. If I'd lost you, I'm not sure if I would have had the strength to carry on even with Burt here."

Finn smiled, touched as usual by his mother's strong motherly love for him, and said, "It's ok mom. I understand."

At that moment, Emma then said, "Well on the bright side, Finn is right here alive and awake. Therefore, how about we talk about some more happy things?"

Will looked at his wife, and looked at Burt and Carole out of the corner of his eyes before saying, "Mrs. Pillsbury has spoken, and I say we follow her advice."

Finn grinned, and said, "Don't you mean Mrs. Schuester?"

Will looked at his former student, smiled, and replied, "You do have a point there. Very well, I shall rephrase: Mrs. Schuester has spoken, and I say we follow her advice."

Carole, Burt, and Finn promptly started laughing, and before long, Will and Emma joined in. As they all laughed, Finn thought to himself, things certainly hadn't changed.

. . . . .

An hour and a half later, Burt and Carole decided that it was getting to be about time for them to leave, for Burt knew that he needed to get to work at some point that day and Carole didn't want to overwhelm her son. Will and Emma agreed, for they knew that Finn would need some time on his own in order to fully recover. As they were about to leave, Finn said, "Actually, could I have some time alone with Mr. Schue? There's something really important I'd like to talk with him about."

Will and Emma looked each other in the eyes, and Will eventually said, "Well, I guess a few more minutes wouldn't hurt."

Emma nodded, and said, "Very well then, have fun. I'll be waiting outside."

Will nodded, and said with a smile, "Very well. I'll come right out when I'm done."

Emma smiled, turned, and left the room, her red hair flowing down to her shoulders.

Will smiled as he watched his wife go, and then walked back over to Finn before taking a seat in a chair nearby the bed.

Finn smiled, and said, "So, how are things between you two?"

Will grinned in pleasure, and responded, "I couldn't be happier. I'm one lucky man."

Finn replied, "That's good to hear." With a sigh, Finn then continued, "I wish I could have been there when you had that successful private wedding ceremony after regionals that year. I feel so bummed that I couldn't be there."

Will sighed, and responded, "You're not the only one who feels that way. Quinn and Puck wish that they could have been there too, not to mention Rachel. It's ok though, you were all there in spirit."

Finn nodded, and said stoically, "Well, I guess that does make me feel a tiny bit better," before then saying, "Speaking of which, I did have something important to talk about with you now that I think about it."

Will raised his eyebrows, and jokingly asked, "My current status regarding my marriage to Emma wasn't what you wanted to talk to me about?"

Finn rolled his eyes, and responded, "No, I wanted to talk about something a bit more . . . personal I'd guess."

Will leaned over towards Finn and said, "Talk away, I'm right here."

Finn took a deep breath, looked towards his former teacher, and said, "Well, on the last day at the school I teach at, Luke, the guy you saw in here earlier, asked me for advice on what he should do regarding his newfound feelings for his friend Mara, the girl you saw in here earlier. In the conversation that followed, I ended up playing Don't Stop Believing for him to help show him just how he needed to believe in himself in order to have the courage needed to admit to Mara about his feelings for her. While it was playing, I remembered all my times with my friends back in the New Directions, and how we all felt like family together. I actually ended up crying later on in the song. Last week at the grocery store, before the shootout, I heard the exact same song play on the radio, and I realized that it may have been too long since the last time we were all together in the same place. Also, having just barely survived getting shot like that, I realized that life is short. I could have died that day, and I wouldn't have had the chance to properly say goodbye to all my friends from the glee club.

"Having realized that, I decided, that maybe I should invite all my friends from the New Directions to come over to Lima someday. Then, maybe we could all hang out together, do something fun, and maybe feel like a family again like we used to. I mean, you've got to admit, that would certainly be nice don't you think?"

As Will thought about what Finn had suggested, he had to admit that the idea certainly held quite a bit of appeal for him. It had certainly been a long time since he'd last seen all his former students in the glee club. In fact, from what he knew about them these days, he knew that each of them had moved on in their own unique way and were living their own lives now. Still as Finn had more or less made clear, even with their new lives, they all probably still felt pretty lonely every once in a while. Maybe a glee club reunion was just the thing they all needed. As he had the thought, he suddenly thought of a recent development in regard to the New Directions the coming school year at McKinley High, and had an idea.

Will said, "You know what Finn, I think that that's an excellent idea. In fact, I was wondering, did you have a specific time in mind?"

Finn shook his head side to side and replied, "No, but I was thinking about possibly waiting a while for me to get out of the hospital and get settled back in with my life outside the hospital beforehand. Why do you ask?"

Will responded, "You do know that I'm still teaching the New Directions right?"

Finn nodded, wondering where his former teacher was going with this.

Will continued, "Well this coming school year, assuming that anyone signs up for it, then all the members of the New Directions this year will be entirely new, and while I have certainly proved to be an excellent teacher from our experiences together, I do believe it's often good for others who are experienced with the kind of stuff taught about in glee club to help me out in teaching that stuff as well, don't you think?"

For a few seconds, Finn pondered what Will said, then smiled as he realized just what his former teacher might be getting at. "Go on," Finn said.

Will continued, "Therefore, depending on what time you schedule your reunion, perhaps maybe you and the others could possibly help out in mentoring the new members. Kind of like the old generation of New Directions helping out the new generation if you get what I'm saying."

Finn smiled, and replied, "I understand perfectly, and I think we could possibly come up with some sort of arrangement or other on that matter." He then looked at the clock, noted the time, and eventually said, "I guess that's all I needed to talk about on that matter for now."

Will smiled, and said, "I am happy that I was able to help," before getting up from the chair and walking over to the door to the room. As he left the room, he turned his head back towards Finn one last time and said, "I hope I'll see you relatively soon in the future, and hopefully outside the hospital next time."

Finn smiled, and said, "Me too. Enjoy the rest of your summer, Mr. Schue."

Will smiled, and winked at his former student before turning around and walking away. As Finn reclined on his bed after Mr. Schuester left, he thought to himself, "Well that settles it. When the time is right, like it or not, I am going to invite all my old friends in the New Directions over to Lima, and we are going to spend as much time together as possible. It's time we were all together once more."

**A:N: Well, there you have it! Finn is still, very much, alive and well! All fans of Finchel, or at least Finn, you are now free to rejoice! I hope you are looking forward to when Finn starts setting things up for the reunion! On another note, I'll bet your probably wondering how Mr. Schuester will handle the matter of finding and recruiting an entirely brand new generation of gleeks. Fear not! Come next week, and it's time to switch over to McKinley and be introduced to some of the new students there, and in particular, six who could very well end up joining the New Directions. Excited? I certainly hope so! :)**


	3. A New Generation of New Directions

**Hey there everyone! Well, as promised, here's chapter 3 of my Glee fanfiction! Also as promised, prepare to get to know six OCs who will very soon likely join the New Directions in the near future! :) Plus, who else among you was excited to see Glee return with the Applause worthy new episode "A Katy or a Gaga"? I certainly found it worth a Roar of cheering. But anyway, on with the story! Have fun. ;)**

**Chapter 3:**

**A New Generation of New Directions**

Diana Eberhart was nervous. That was the only word that could accurately describe how she felt on the first day of her junior year at William McKinley High School. Throughout her time at school that day, she had been so anxious that she'd thought that she'd flood the school with her sweat. Now, with a blissful half hour of recess, she felt as if she could relax.

Putting on her most convincing happy face that she could muster, she walked slowly down the hall with her text books in her arms and her backpack over her shoulders. She smiled as she examined the now peaceful hallways. She certainly had to admit that when it wasn't so chaotic with all the students milling around, the school actually did feel very much like home.

Diana continued down the hall, now smiling for real. As she smiled, her face seemed to light up with happiness. As she continued down the hall, she found herself speaking to herself mentally: "Ah, peace at last. Just a blissful thirty minutes of tranquility. But oh what to do with them?"

As she had this thought, she suddenly heard the sound of a familiar voice talking. She turned her head, and smiled as she caught sight of her good friend Daniel Taymor talking to his friend, Zack Skinner. As she gazed at the two, she found herself once again gazing intently and longingly at Daniel. As usual, he looked so good looking with his straight black hair and steely gray eyes. Her smile grew wider as she thought of how she'd often heard the other girls at school say that he looked very similar to Daniel Radcliffe. Now that she thought about it, she certainly had to agree.

Sighing wistfully to herself, she brushed her fingers through her golden blonde hair. Her vivid green eyes clouded in longing as she thought about how much she wished that she had the courage to tell him about how she'd found herself feeling when around him for the last few months. "Oh how I wish he were to walk over to me and tell me that he loved me, I would so eagerly kiss him to show how much I love him too," she said to herself in her mind. She turned her head back towards Daniel and bitterly continued mentally, "But there's no way he'd ever love me. Sure we're good friends and all, but there's no way I'd possibly fit the bill for love in his eyes. After all, there are so many other girls here who are so much more beautiful than me."

Almost as if on cue, she saw a girl who she definitely had to admit was a thousand times prettier than herself come out of a door at the opposite end of the hall. As Diana gazed at the newcomer, she took in the ivory skin, elegant ash blonde hair, sky blue eyes, and most of all her cheer leader outfit. Upon sight of all these details, plus that of her arrogant and flirtatious smile as the girl gazed at Daniel and Zack, Diana instantly recognized her as Charlotte Thornton, the new head cheerleader of the infamous cheerios.

As Diana watched the devastatingly beautiful girl walk down the hall towards Daniel and Zack, Diana found herself clenching her fist in envy as she watched how Charlotte seemed to glide across the floor without her feet touching the ground. She watched in jealousy as she noticed once again how the light seemed to glow and reflect off of Charlotte's ash blonde hair and how Charlotte's eyes seemed to dazzle like pure sapphires. She could only stand there with a hopelessly envious look on her face as she noticed how Charlotte was so well built and athletic that she looked as if she could have been an angel sent down from Heaven rather than a mere mortal cheerleader girl.

Within a few minutes, Charlotte reached the area where Daniel and Zack were, and Diana could only watch as a conversation promptly ensued between the three students. While Zack and Charlotte seemed able to keep the conversation going at a smooth pace, she noticed with a brief moment of happiness that Daniel seemed quite uncomfortable with being around Charlotte.

At one point, Daniel turned his head and looked straight at her. Diana's heart leaped when she saw Daniel's face brighten up in a smile at the sight of her. Diana smiled, and waved happily at her friend. Seconds later, suddenly embarrassed, she turned and walked resolutely back down the hall away from Daniel, Zack, and Charlotte. "Don't be a fool," she said to herself mentally. "I'm only a good friend of his, nothing more."

As Diana continued to walk down the hall, she heard talking again, this time to her right. She turned her head and saw a blonde boy about her age standing nearby the lockers. Standing to his left was a dark haired girl at around the same age as the boy who was smiling as the boy talked to her. Sitting down on its haunches to the right of the boy was a German shepherd who was panting innocently like dogs tended to do with a happy look on its face. As Diana watched, the blonde boy turned his head towards the dog, smiled, and patted it on the head, much to the dog's delight.

The girl smiled, got down on her knees, and gently scratched the dog under its chin. The dog closed its mouth, licked its lips, and then opened its mouth and started panting happily again. Diana smiled as she saw this unfold, for the girl was her friend Susan Caraway, and the boy was Susan's best friend, Calvin Martenson. Although she did know Susan as a close friend, she didn't know very much about Calvin other than the fact that he was Susan's best friend and that he had some sort of spectrum disorder; Autism if she remembered correctly. The dog was Calvin's pet, Hobbes. Normally, dogs were not allowed at McKinley High. However, Calvin was a special case because he had high-functioning Autism, and Hobbes had originally been bought for Calvin as a therapy dog. Therefore, with Calvin's IEP accommodations in play, Calvin took Hobbes everywhere he went, including school.

At one point, Calvin leaned over and whispered something in Hobbes's ear. The dog barked once in pleasure before he started panting again. Calvin looked at Susan with a smile on his face before then saying, "Sounds like Hobbes would like to go for a little walk around the school."

Susan chuckled, and replied, "Very well then. Let's do that then. We don't want Hobbes angry now do we?"

Calvin chuckled, and said, "Let's be off then," before walking off down the hall with Susan and Hobbes following close behind him. Diana smiled as she watched the pair and the dog go, for she knew that Susan was a very nice girl, and that from what she'd been told about Calvin, her friend deserved to have a good friend like Calvin.

However, as she thought about how truly close Susan and Calvin appeared to be in their relationship with each other, she sighed as she thought once again about how much difficulty she now had in regard to her own friendship with Daniel. "She is so lucky," she said to herself, and this time out loud. She'd seen Susan and Calvin, and of course Hobbes, hanging out together once at Breadstix, and how very intimate they'd been the entire time, and now wished bitterly that she could have done the same with Daniel.

As Diana thought about this, she eventually thought to herself, "Maybe I should find some other people I could befriend. Maybe if I have more than just Daniel and Susan as my friends, maybe I would have an easier time with my current situation with Daniel. But how could I find anybody?" Seconds after she thought about this, she noticed that she was about to walk right by a sign-up sheet for the glee club that was on the wall in between two rows of lockers. As she gazed at the sign-up sheet, she thought of how her own personal idol, Rachel Berry, had made many friends in this very glee club when she had gone to this very school, and how her experiences in Glee club had allowed her to pursue and even achieve her dreams of being a successful Broadway actress. Diana smiled wistfully to herself as she thought about this, for she herself wanted more than anything to be a famous singing actress like her idol. Oh how she wished that she could be as confident, as determined, and as strong willed and diva-like as Rachel Berry was. But most of all, she wished she had as many friends as Rachel.

No sooner had Diana had this thought, when she reached into her backpack, pulled out a black sharpie, and signed her name on the top line of the sign-up sheet. As she wrote her name, she said to herself in her mind, "That's it, I am going to join the New Directions, I am going to make as many new friends as possible, and I am going to follow my dreams."

. . . . .

Daniel Taymor was having a friendly chat with his friend Zack Skinner. The two boys smiled as they talked eagerly about how much they were looking forward to the upcoming football and basketball seasons they had ahead of them this year at school. Daniel was especially excited, after all, he was the quarterback of the football team and the team had never yet lost a single game with him on the team. The school basketball team, likewise, had also never lost a game thanks to how Zack had the most important position on the team.

Zack grinned, his dark face alight with excitement as he thought about how much fun he would have this year playing basketball. Daniel himself also smiled as he thought of how much he was looking forward to the upcoming football season. He couldn't wait to score his first touchdown of the season and hopefully impress Diana. As he had the thought, his smile became slightly less confident as he thought of how much he wanted to impress Diana more than ever now. Ever since he'd hung out with her at Breadstix on the night before their first day as high school freshmen, he had found himself experiencing unusual feelings for and around Diana that he'd never before felt for anyone. In fact, now that he had thought about it, the only name he could think of for these strange new emotions he was feeling for Diana was love. However, even as he had the thought, he wondered once again if it was even possible that Diana could ever love a guy like him in return.

As Zack started talking about what he was looking forward to the most about the upcoming basketball games, Daniel tried his best to listen while thinking about Diana at the same time. Daniel smiled as he remembered the day he'd first met Diana. They'd first met each other in first grade when they were both six years old. Ever since first grade, they'd always gone to the same school together. Now, in high school, their friendship had truly developed to the point that they were best friends, and that he himself was now in love with her. "Boy I wish I had the courage to tell her about this," Daniel said to himself in his mind. "I honestly think I might want to marry her someday, and I haven't even told her about how I feel yet."

Seconds later, Daniel was abruptly knocked out of his reverie when he smelled the strong scent of perfume a few meters away from him coming towards him from the right. With a sinking feeling in his stomach, he turned his head in the direction the smell was coming from. Zack turned his head as well.

As Daniel had feared, he saw none other than Charlotte Thornton walking, or more accurately, gliding, down the hall towards him with her blue eyes blazing with pleasure, her ash blonde hair flowing down past her shoulders, and her face seeming to glow with a hungry smile as she gazed at him and Zack. As Charlotte smiled hungrily at him, Daniel was forced to smile politely at her. At least, he hoped it looked like a smile through his gritted teeth.

As Daniel had the thought he noticed Zack right next to him with a definitely real smile on his face. Daniel rolled his eyes at the sight, for he honestly had no idea what Zack saw in Charlotte. Despite being the quarterback of the football team, Daniel had no interest in dating cheerleaders, least of all arrogant and heartless little beasts like Charlotte. Zack however, was quite a different story. Zack was surprisingly popular among all the girls at McKinley, and he enjoyed flirting around with them. In fact, the only thing he enjoyed more than flirting around with all the girls at McKinley High was getting physical with the guys. As Daniel remembered this, he thought to himself once again about how Zack, despite his being on the basketball team and school decathlon and being extremely smart and at the top of his class, really wasn't all that different from Jake Puckerman, or even more so from Jake's half-brother Noah, commonly known as Puck.

Eventually, Charlotte stopped right in front of the two boys. Still smiling, she stated, "Why hello there Danny, how's my future prom date doing?"

Gritting his teeth, and with a clenched fist, Daniel replied, "A: don't call me Danny, B: not your prom date, and C: I was perfectly fine until you showed up."

Charlotte just laughed, and said, "Very funny honey," before turning her head to Zack and saying, "How about you? Let me guess, I'm a comforting sight for you to see after spending the night going all the way with an entire sorority."

Zack winced at the jibe, and replied, "I've had better nights then last night I guess."

Daniel rolled his eyes, and stared up at the ceiling as Zack and Charlotte continued to exchange verbal barbs and have casual chit chat. Although Charlotte thought he'd been joking, he had meant what he said with utmost sincerity when he'd told her that he'd been perfectly happy without her in the area. The truth was, he felt very uncomfortable and awkward in her presence, and not in the way he felt for Diana.

Groaning to himself, he said to himself in his mind, "Why can't she take a hint and leave me alone?!" Ever since freshman year, Charlotte had constantly kept on making increasingly flirtatious plays for him, and even now continued to throw herself at him whenever she got the chance. Daniel was now wishing more than anything that she'd have the sense to stop going after him. He hated how much she kept on making useless attempts at winning him over when in the end they were little more than wastes of time.

At one point, Daniel turned his head to look behind him to see if he could distract himself from the verbal exchange he was hearing between Charlotte and Zack. Upon doing so, his eyes widened in surprise and delight when he saw Diana standing not too far down the hall behind him. As he looked at her with the smile on his face, Diana smiled happily, and waved. At the sight of this, Daniel found himself even happier than before.

As he gazed happily at Diana, Daniel couldn't help but think to himself once again about how truly beautiful she was. He loved how her fair skin seemed to dazzle when the light touched it just right. He loved how her golden blonde hair seemed to glow pure yellow in the sunlight and turn silver in the moonlight. He loved the way she laughed and smiled. He loved the way that she was so humble and friendly. But most of all, he loved the way that her vivid green eyes seemed to resemble emeralds. All in all, he certainly had to agree with what the other guys he knew said about her looking beautiful. In fact, now that he thought about it, she looked surprisingly similar to Quinn Fabray from when she was younger.

Seconds later, Diana's face suddenly took on an embarrassed look, and she turned around before resolutely walking down the hall away from Daniel. Daniel cursed to himself when he saw this, for he had a pretty good feeling that the reason she was now leaving was standing not too far behind him. He turned his head to Zack and said, "Do you mind if I go for a little walk around the hallways? I could use some time to think."

Zack, without even looking away from Charlotte, responded, "Go ahead dude."

Charlotte, surprised by Daniel's abrupt upcoming departure, prepared herself to follow in Daniel's direction and said, "Wait, let me come with you."

Daniel turned his head towards Charlotte and said, "No," with a tone of finality to it and a look on his face that said that he meant what he said.

Charlotte stepped back, completely taken aback by Daniel's tone and facial expression, her own face filled with shock and disappointment.

With an irritated growl, Daniel turned his head back in Diana's direction and stormed off resolutely down the hall. The last thing he needed while trying to pursue Diana was Charlotte trailing along behind him.

A few minutes later, Daniel heard running feet behind him, and he swore under his breath. Despite how he'd made it clear that he wanted to be alone, Charlotte had decided to come after him anyway. In a flash, he bolted down the hallway to his left. As he ran down through the hallway, numerous students walked by and called out greetings to him. However, Daniel didn't have time to reply as he dashed down the hall to escape Charlotte, whom he could hear quite clearly behind him calling out his name. Eventually, after bulling his way through a small group of his fellow football players, he dashed down into the men's rest room, hurried past all the other guys there, and locked himself in a stall.

As he sat on the toilet within the stall with his feet on the toilet seat to hide the fact that he was inside the stall, Daniel heard running footsteps rush right into the bathroom. When he heard a raucous laughing coming from outside the stall, he sniggered to himself. It seemed that Charlotte had come right into the men's room without thinking in her mad pursuit.

After a few minutes, Daniel heard the sound of someone run out of the bathroom with a scream, obviously Charlotte. His heart rose up even further in his delight when he heard the sound of numerous other people stampeding out of the bathroom. Daniel smiled when he heard the sound of the other boys rushing out of the bathroom and calling out Charlotte's name. He knew that Charlotte, being the head cheerleader, was the object of affection for a vast majority of the guys at McKinley High School. Seeing her come right into the men's bathroom combined with the rare privilege of getting to chase after her must have been a real treat for all the other boys in the bathroom. As the shouts of the boys pursuing Charlotte grew fainter and fainter, Daniel laughed to himself and left the bathroom.

As Daniel walked calmly down the hall in the direction opposite the boys chasing after Charlotte, he smiled as he thought of how he'd had a very lucky escape. He laughed as he thought of how priceless it would have been to see the look that had probably been on Charlotte's face. "She'll never learn," he said to himself in his mind as he continued down the hall.

Unfortunately, as he looked around the hallway, Daniel found himself feeling quite disappointed when he noticed that he couldn't see Diana anywhere. He cursed to himself under his breath. Diana must have heard the sound of the pursuit and gone off somewhere to hide.

However, right as Daniel had the thought, he saw Diana further up the hall coming to a stop nearby a wall. As she stood there gazing at whatever had caught her attention on the wall, Daniel smiled, for he always loved to watch her. At one point, he saw Diana pull a black sharpie from her pocket, remove the cap, and write something on whatever she was looking at on the wall. When she was finished, she placed the cap back on the sharpie, gazed at the object on the wall with a smile, and then turned and continued down the hall.

His curiosity piqued, Daniel headed down towards the wall where Diana had written on the mysterious object. When he came to a stop at the area where Diana had been standing, he found himself staring right at a sign-up sheet for the glee club. At the sight of this, Daniel smiled, for he'd heard how truly wonderful Diana was at singing from a very young age, and if anyone deserved to join the glee club at this school, she did. "After all," he thought to himself, "she looks like Quinn Fabray and has a personality similar to that of Rachel Berry, both of whom were former members of this very club." His smile grew bigger when he saw Diana's name at the very top of the list.

As he gazed at the sign-up sheet, Daniel found himself thinking further about the glee club. Now that he thought about it, numerous people he'd heard about in the media these days had formerly been members of the New Directions. He thought of Arthur Abrams, the now world famous wheelchair bound director of Reels on Wheels Studios. He thought of the famous lawyers Quinn Fabray and Joseph Hart. He thought of the famous dancer Mike Chang and his wife Tina. He thought of the famous movie star Sam Evans and his wife, the equally famous recording artist Mercedes Jones Evans. He thought of the famous Broadway star Rachel Berry. However, his smile grew to its maximum length when he remembered his own personal idol, the teacher Finn Hudson.

Daniel found himself very happy indeed as he thought about his idol. In fact, he thought ruefully, he could certainly notice more than a few similarities between his high school life, and that of his idol. He especially knew that he certainly went through a lot of peer pressure like Finn Hudson had. Like Finn Hudson, Daniel often found himself under pressure to decide between two girls, whether or not he wanted to do one thing or another in regard to school, and what he was going to do after high school.

As he had the thought, Daniel suddenly thought, "What am I going to do? I know I love Diana, but Charlotte won't stop coming after me. I'm already in the football team, but now I want to be in the glee club. I know that all my friends in the football team want me to pursue a football scholarship, but I really don't know what I want."

Eventually, Daniel thought to himself, "You know what, the first step to following, or even finding, your dreams is taking a leap of faith." He turned his head towards the signup sheet, and with a smile, drew out a black sharpie of his own from his backpack, and wrote his name on the line directly underneath the line where Diana had written her own name. As Daniel signed his name on the sheet, he thought to himself, "That's it, I don't care. They can come at me with an entire tsunami's worth of slushies. I am going to join the glee club and be just like Finn Hudson."

. . . . .

Calvin Martenson was having yet another pleasant day at school as he walked through the hallways of McKinley High School alongside his best friend, Susan Caraway, and his dog, Hobbes. Calvin smiled, his dark black eyes agleam, as he thought of how much he more or less enjoyed McKinley High School. He was especially glad that he got to go to this school alongside Susan and Hobbes. Being Autistic, it was difficult for him to make friends. Fortunately, Susan had been his best friend ever since the two of them had been in first grade together, and Hobbes had been an important part of his life ever since his parents had bought the dog for him when he was in eighth grade, and Hobbes himself had been just a puppy.

As Calvin had the thought, he reached down and stroked Hobbes on the top of his head. The German shepherd panted in pleasure as he felt his master stroking him on the head. Sensing how his dog felt happy, Calvin's smile grew wider as he remembered how he was very lucky to have Hobbes there in school with him. For all other students, dogs were not allowed in McKinley High School. However, Hobbes was a therapy dog, and with Calvin's IEP accommodations in play, Hobbes was allowed to go with Calvin everywhere he went, including school. Calvin couldn't have been happier taking the dog everywhere he went alongside Susan, for Hobbes had been very well trained for a variety of purposes alongside working as a therapy dog. In fact, one particular task that Hobbes had definitely been well trained for by Calvin and his parents was protecting Calvin.

As Calvin had the thought, he heard multiple footsteps stomping along behind him. Rolling his eyes, Calvin turned around to face what was behind him and saw eight members of the McKinley Titans storming up towards him. Susan turned around as well, and rolled her eyes in annoyance when she saw the eight football players storming up towards her and her friend. In particular, she was annoyed at the blonde boy that was standing at the head of the group alongside a tall African American boy who also appeared to be a leader of the group. Hobbes turned as well, for he had smelled the new arrivals, and he snarled threateningly at the sight of them, for his instincts were howling at him that they intended to do harm to his master.

Seconds later, the eight football players stopped when they were only a footstep or two away from Calvin, Susan, and Hobbes. The African American boy glared at Calvin. His partner standing next to him, the boy with sandy blonde hair, also glared daggers at Calvin, as did the six other boys gathered behind him and the black boy.

Calvin rolled his eyes, stared blankly at the African American boy and calmly stated, "John Lipoff. To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?"

John Lipoff replied tensely, "What do you think? Does the fact that me, Miles, and six other football boys are standing here threateningly give you any sufficient answer?"

Calvin made a "tsk, tsk," and calmly responded, "Believe me, every other time you two have come to see me with a group of muscle bound hulks in tow in the past, you've always come to make a futile attempt at beating me up for some stupid reason. Give me credit for guessing correctly once more that you are about to try that once again."

The blonde boy, Miles Surette, sarcastically replied, "No, we're here to give you and Susan an early wedding present. Of course we're here to beat you up!" At the sound of the angry tone with which Miles was speaking in, Hobbes barked thrice threateningly. At the sound of the barking, the six boys standing behind Miles and John looked as if they wanted to leave. However, the glares that their two leaders shot back at them kept them from fleeing prematurely.

Susan rolled her eyes in derision, for she knew that Miles was willing to do anything to win her over away from Calvin, and said calmly to the eight bullies, "I'd be careful if I were you. Hobbes here is a well-qualified canine body guard as you should already know from the other times you've tried to beat up my friend here."

Calvin smiled, and continued, "Susan's right you know. Besides, I'm no shrinking violet either. I've already shown you before how capable I am of fighting off a credible threat to my person. Honestly, when will you guys learn to stop wasting your time like this?"

John rolled his eyes and responded, "Simple. The day that we stop getting the craving for a good fight, and the day that people from the football team or the cheerios stops giving us a reason to feel need to blame someone for whatever he or she did to give us grief."

Calvin raised his eyebrow, and said, "Well I doubt that you will ever get what you consider a 'good fight' against me considering how quickly your fights against me always end. Alright, who's given you grief this time?"

John replied, "Ironically, a guy we thought was our friend and a girl that he really ought to have learned by now is his soul mate. Daniel Taymor got chased down the hallways by that gorgeous princess, Charlotte Thornton, earlier today and they both bulled their way through us. We're lucky we didn't get seriously wounded considering the fact that Charlotte and Daniel always wear cleats when not in their sports uniforms. We can't give Taymor what for without risking getting kicked off the football team by Coach Bieste, and we certainly can't beat up Charlotte because A: she's a girl, and B: Coach Sylvester would be out for our blood if we dared harm her precious head cheerio. Therefore, we need someone to punish, and it might as well be you."

Calvin rolled his eyes derisively, and said, "Pity you had to fight me in the same conditions you always choose to fight me. Honestly, it's never a fare match, and that's just sad."

Miles smiled arrogantly, and asked, "What's this? Is the infallible Calvin Martenson showing doubt? Is he finally acknowledging how he's only defeated us in the past through sheer luck?"

Calvin stuck his tongue out at Miles and responded, "No. It's sad for you. I'm the one who always has the advantage in numbers."

John glared blankly at Calvin and said, "Perhaps you can't count. There are eight of us, and only one of you."

Calvin chuckled, and said, "Actually, there are two of us on my side." Upon saying this, Calvin turned his head to Hobbes and said, "Hobbes, you take on those six guys over there. I'll take care of these two bruisers in the front."

Hobbes snarled, and jumped up into the air before landing right on top of the six football players standing behind John and Miles. The six football players shrieked as they felt the dog's sharp claws digging into their flesh dangerously close to their eyes. Immediately after the dog leaped off of the six boys and bolted down the hall, the six boys stampeded off towards the dog shouting angrily at him.

John and Miles looked back at Calvin and away from their six comrades. With an angry glare, Miles stated, "Don't you think its spineless having your dog do all the heavy lifting for you? You do realize that girls as lovely as Susan totally don't dig cowards who have their dogs do all the fighting right?"

Calvin laughed and said, "You call this heavy lifting? I could do this all day!"

John roared, "We'll see how confident and brave you are when we're finished with you punk!" before he and Miles barreled straight towards Calvin, the air splitting with the sound of their furious battle screams.

. . . . .

Two minutes later, Susan Caraway shook her head with a smirk on her face as she watched her best friend, Calvin Martenson, standing triumphantly over the sprawled out bodies of John Lipoff and Miles Surette. With all his masterful skill at kung-fu and ninjitsu, Calvin had managed to send the two football players packing in only two minutes.

Smirking still, Susan tossed her glossy black hair over her left shoulder and said, "Two hulking neanderthals defeated by my knight in shining armor in two minutes. Honestly, when will you morons ever learn?"

Miles winced at Susan's words, and at how she'd called the rival for her affections that was now standing over him her knight in shining armor, and pleadingly said, "It wouldn't be like this if he didn't always have our cohorts distracted with that nightmare dog."

Calvin, amused by the pathetic plea for his best friend's sympathy, derisively said, "Don't be stupid," before pointing in the direction that the other boys could be seen in and stating, "Look at them. They couldn't even win a fight against a German shepherd! Do you really think they'd do any better against me?"

John and Miles looked each other in the eyes with a nervous look, looked in the direction their cohorts had gone, and found themselves gaping at the ludicrous scene that they found literally lying down on the ground before their eyes. Lying on the floor, all tangled up together tightly with a massive golden rope that had formerly been dangling out of one of the drama club member's lockers, were the six football players that had been selected to attempt to fight off Hobbes. Upon rushing after Hobbes, they hadn't made it seven steps down the hallway before Hobbes had snatched the rope from the locker with his teeth, dragged it out, and rushed wildly around and between the six boys, tightly binding them together. Now, Hobbes sat down on his haunches right next to the boys, panting in triumph and excitement as the six boys struggled uselessly to break free from the hopelessly tangled and knotted rope binding them all together, cursing and grumbling as they squirmed around and poked, kicked, and otherwise beat themselves and each other up. Seeing his master's approving gaze leveled towards him, Hobbes barked once in pleasure before resuming his happy panting.

Susan laughed as she observed how the six hulking football players had been so contemptuously easily defeated by the dog. Still laughing, she walked on over to join Calvin. As she stood over the two bullies, she smiled condescendingly down at them, her black hair flowing down to her shoulders and her blue eyes hardened in an icy smirk, and said, "I hope this teaches you a lesson this time. Honestly, continuing to come after my friend to beat him up just because you're too spineless to go after any football team or cheerios members who give you grief when you already should have learned how hopeless your attempts are? Talk about pathetic!"

As Susan said these words, she momentarily felt a pang of worry. She was usually more polite and decent than now. Then she thought to herself, "Forget it. These two blokes deserve to be talked down to like that. That's probably the only way that the point will sink in beneath their thick dumb rhinoceros skin." As she had the thought, she noticed how John and especially Miles winced at her words, and smiled as she saw how her point had definitely been pushed through to them.

Smiling still, Susan lifted her right foot and stomped down hard on Miles's private parts. Miles doubled up in pain and shock, shrieking in a high soprano. Susan laughed, and said, "That will teach you to mess with me and my best friend you sicko psycho!"

Calvin, smiling, said to Susan, "You got that right!" in approval before turning to stare down at John and giving him a powerful kick to the lower jaw. John only managed to briefly see a flash of white light before he completely blacked out.

Immediately after this, the two friends turned around, stepped away from the two bullies, and walked down the hall arm in arm. Hobbes, seeing his master leaving the area, got up into a standing position and dashed off down the hall to keep up with his master. As the two friends and the dog headed off down the hall, Miles Surette could only stare at them, doubled over in pain still and with a hurt and humiliated look on his face as they walked away. Meanwhile, right next to him and behind him, John and the other six football players could likewise do nothing other than either lie down completely out cold or struggle futilely to escape from their trap. As Miles stared at his rival, long desired love-interest, and his rival's faithful 'canine bodyguard' walking away from him and his out of commission friends, he groaned, for now he had lost all his pride, and with it, all of his remaining tiny chances at winning Susan away from the Autistic and nerdy, yet friendly and good looking, Calvin Martenson.

Meanwhile, as Calvin, Susan, and Hobbes continued down the hall, they laughed as they recounted how wonderfully Calvin had shown off his skill against the bullies and how Hobbes had shown off yet another example of his great training and surprisingly high level of smartness in the way he'd dealt with the six bullies that Calvin had assigned him to take out. Eventually, while they were talking, they happened to walk right by the glee club sign-up sheet on the wall. They stopped and took a long look at it. At the sight of Diana and Daniel's names written on the sheet, the two friends smiled, for they knew that of all the students at McKinley, few deserved a chance to be a star in the New Directions as much as Diana Eberhart and Daniel Taymor.

As they had the thought, Calvin looked at Susan and said, "You know, I've been wondering if we should try to join the glee club."

Susan looked at the sign-up sheet, looked back at Calvin, and said, "It's your call Calvin, but I certainly think that it would do us good. After all, Diana is a pretty good friend of mine, and Daniel is always so much nicer to you and less sexually rapist to me than all those other morons on the football team. Who knows, if the four of us end up in the glee club, we could all become very good friends, and we could also potentially befriend any other members who join the ranks. Don't you think that would be lovely?"

Calvin smiled, for now that Susan had said this, the idea certainly sounded very appealing. Susan smiled back at Calvin, and together, the two friends drew out black sharpies and walked over to the sign-up sheet with Hobbes following close behind them. Within seconds, the two friends had both signed their names on the sheet. Immediately after this, Calvin turned his head to look behind him, and saw Hobbes sitting on his haunches with an inquisitive look on his face.

At the sight of this Calvin smiled, reached into his backpack, and drew out a large stamp pad before putting it down on the floor in front of Hobbes. Panting happily, the dog placed his right front paw on the stamp pad. Immediately after this, Calvin and Susan helped the dog lift his leg up so that he could place his paw up on the area of the sheet right next to Calvin and Susan's names. After removing Hobbes's paw from the sheet, they smiled as they gazed at the large paw print that was now on the list next to their names. Still smiling, the two friends put away the stamp pad, turned away from the sign-up sheet, and walked down the hall towards their next class, hand in hand and with Hobbes following close behind them. They already knew that they couldn't wait for their upcoming audition for the New Directions.

. . . . .

Zack Skinner could only stand by the lockers in disappointment as he stared down the direction that Charlotte had bolted off after Daniel. He growled and cursed to himself under his breath as he had the thought, for he knew that Charlotte was not the kind of girl that a smart boy in his right mind ought to spend his time around, but he had to admit that Charlotte was definitely one of his guilty pleasures. He almost always thought about her every day. In fact, he very rarely thought about any girl as often, or quite in the same way, as he thought about Charlotte.

He punched his locker to shake himself out of his reverie before walking off in the direction opposite the one that Charlotte and Daniel had left as he walked over to his next class. Sure there were only fifteen minutes left for the recess, but he knew that there was nothing else he could really do now.

As he headed towards the U.S. History classroom, he wondered about how he could possibly get Charlotte to stop going after Daniel. He knew that his friend hated the constant attention the girl was giving him. To be honest, he himself believed that Charlotte was really being cruel to him, and also to herself. After all, the way Zack saw it, Daniel had already made his lack of interest in Charlotte crystal clear more than enough times in the past. In fact, now that he thought about it, he knew a girl that was almost certainly much better for Daniel. As he thought about this, Zack smiled, for he knew that he himself was second only to Diana Eberhart when it came to his friendship with Daniel. In fact, he had often seen the longing looks that Diana had sent Daniel's way, and knew that with Charlotte in the way, Diana would never get the happiness she deserved with Daniel.

Sighing again, Zack continued down the hallway. He knew that Daniel was definitely in love with Diana. After all, not only had Daniel told him so, but he'd also seen how Daniel often sent longing looks in Diana's direction and always seemed to be happier whenever Diana was in the area. As he had the thought, he found himself thinking about how ridiculous it was that neither of them had noticed the signs of the obvious mutual affection that they both stubbornly refused to admit to each other. As far as he could tell, Charlotte, Daniel, and Diana were the only students at this school who didn't notice the obvious signs.

"Honestly," Zack thought to himself, "If everyone else can see it, why can't they?" Then he thought to himself, "Well then again, sometimes people can be too smart for their own good." With that in mind, he now had a good feeling that they were over thinking this situation. He knew that the best way to get this whole uncertainty out of the way was for Daniel and Diana to just walk right up to each other and tell about their feelings. Unfortunately, as his observations had made clear, both of them were too nervous and fearful of rejection to do this. Even worse, Charlotte was most certainly not making things any easier by constantly throwing herself in the way. He knew that Diana was quite certain that she couldn't possibly compete with the devastatingly beautiful head cheerleader, and that if said cheerleader were not already going strong with some other dude, then she'd make any relationship between Daniel and Diana so strained and difficult that it would almost certainly end badly for the two friends.

Zack growled in irritation as he thought about all the problems that were surfacing up in this matter. He knew that the right thing for him to do as Daniel's friend would be to help with this somehow. Unfortunately, he wasn't sure if he'd be entirely serving his interests alone if he tried to intervene and force Diana and Daniel to reveal their feelings to each other. Therefore, this led all the way back to square one. How could he possibly get Charlotte interested in some other guy, preferably himself, instead of his dashing quarterback friend?

Zack was abruptly dashed out of his thoughts when he felt someone grab onto him and smash him against the wall before shouting in his face, "WHERE IS HE?!"

Zack gulped when he realized that he was staring right in the face of Charlotte Thornton. At the sight of her face, his heart skipped a beat when he saw the blazing angry look on her face. After what seemed like an hour to him, he finally managed to say, "Who?"

Charlotte tightened her grip and shouted, "You know perfectly well who I'm talking about! Daniel Taymor! My future husband! That crazy head ought to have learned by now that we belong together and allowed me to catch him and be his girlfriend! But what does he do? He runs away from me and tricks me into running right into the boy's room! Do you have any idea how humiliating that is?!"

Zack whistled in admiration for his friend when he heard about what his friend had done. "Nice one Daniel," he said to himself mentally. Seeing the glare that came on Charlotte's face, he smiled nervously, and thought to himself, "Maybe that will teach her to look before she leaps next time."

With an inarticulate growl of rage, Charlotte punched Zack in the face and shouted, "This isn't funny Skinner! Where's Danny?!"

Gasping from the shock and pain of the punch, Zack replied, "I don't know! I haven't seen him since you went running off down the hall after him!"

Charlotte growled in irritation and said, "Curses! He could be anywhere by now!" She then looked at the clock and said, "Hmmphh, at this point he's probably back in his next classroom. I guess I'd better go to mine." Upon saying this, Charlotte let go of Zack and stormed off down the hallway to head to her next class.

Zack just had time to let out a sigh of relief before he heard Charlotte shout to no one in particular, "Just you wait! That cowardly snake will pay! Trying to avoid me! Humiliating me in public! And get this!? He signed up for the glee club! Talk about social suicide!"

At the sound of those words, Zack raised his head and opened his eyes wide. "Daniel signed up for glee club?" he thought to himself. He checked his watch, saw that there were ten minutes left before his next class, and hurried off down the hall to an area where he knew he would find a glee club sign-up sheet. After a few minutes, Zack skidded to a halt in front of the sign-up sheet that he knew the location of. When he glanced at it, he smiled when he saw that Daniel's name was indeed written on the sign-up sheet. His smile grew wider when he saw Diana's name on the list right above Daniel's name. He chuckled in pleasure when he saw the names 'Calvin Martenson," and 'Susan Caraway' written beneath Daniel's name as well as the large paw print right next to Calvin and Susan's names that could only belong to Calvin's dog, Hobbes.

Smiling, he thought to himself, "Boy those people sure know the right club to sign up for." He'd met Mr. Schuester before, easy enough since he was the U.S. History teacher, and he knew that the glee club director was always happy to accept new members to the New Directions. In fact, now that he thought about it, this year, the club was in need of a whole new complete set of members, and his smile widened. As it currently stood, the New Directions was in a position to possibly receive 1/3 of the minimum number of members it needed to compete.

As Zack had the thought, he promptly thought to himself, "Well, I might as well provide some help with getting more members. After all, I've got time to spare for this club. Besides, if Daniel gets in as well, I could probably help him with his situation with Diana." No sooner had Zack gotten this idea in his mind, when he drew out a black sharpie, and signed his name directly underneath Susan's name. "Yep, I'm going to join the New Directions, just like the Puckerman half-brothers."

. . . . .

Charlotte Thornton was in a black fury. She could barely even concentrate in Spanish class, which was a real pity since the teacher, David Martinez, was a surprisingly handsome fellow; she was just that angry with Daniel Taymor. As she worked on her Spanish assignment, she thought again and again about how Daniel had had the nerve to leave to go off on his own when she'd only just arrived to give him his much deserved time with her in his company. She growled to herself when she remembered how Daniel had chosen to run away from her when she'd gone running after him. However, what really made her angry now was how he'd had the nerve to go in the men's restroom and hide somewhere in there while the other guys had laughed at her and chased after her when she'd fled. As she remembered the chase that had ensued and how she'd only managed to escape by running right by Coach Sylvester by sheer luck, she suddenly growled slightly louder than before in complete anger.

"Is there a problem Ms. Thornton?"

At the sound of that question, Charlotte raised her head, and saw Mr. Martinez staring at her with a half concerned and half annoyed look on his face. Embarrassingly, all the other students were staring at her as well, and all with entirely annoyed looks on their faces. Realizing how she'd brought unnecessary attention to herself, Charlotte put on a flirtatious smile, and sarcastically replied, "Oh sure. I'm in a classroom full of nerds. Talk about pathetic."

Unfortunately, Mr. Martinez was not to be swayed by such feminine wiles. Even more unfortunately, sarcasm was not a foreign language to him, and he pointed his finger at her before responding, "Don't get smart with me Thornton. If you're having a bad day, I'm sorry, but there is no need for you to make things difficult for me and all my civilized students in here because of your petty irritations."

At the sound of this, Charlotte was aghast. "Petty irritations?" she asked to herself in her mind. "Excuse me, I was publicly humiliated by the guy who should already have learned by now is my future prom date and future husband! This is no petty irritation! Besides who cares about all the other losers in here!?" Fortunately, she was not a fool in this matter. She knew that if she went too far in this situation, she could risk suspension. And so, gritting her teeth, she said, "Very well then. I'll try to control myself. Carry on."

Mr. Martinez rose his eyebrows, considered the girl, and eventually decided that she'd more or less taken his point. He turned his head back to the white board and resumed his lesson. Still, he made sure to keep a close eye on Charlotte from out of the corner of his eye. He knew that she was trouble, but Sue Sylvester was not the kind of person that he wanted to get on the bad side of. Still, there were things he knew he could do without Coach Sylvester being able to do anything too severe to him, and so he kept on eye on her head cheer leader.

When Spanish class finally ended, Charlotte bolted out of the classroom and down the hallways towards the Biology classroom, where she knew she would find Daniel somewhere nearby. As she expected, she arrived at the area outside the Biology classroom right as Daniel was standing outside looking around the hallway for something. "Or someone," she thought to herself furiously. She snarled angrily as she had the thought. "Good grief, how can he possibly see anything in that pimple faced shrew instead of in his future wife, ahem me?" she thought to herself.

Immediately after Charlotte had the thought, she angrily shouted, "Daniel Taymor!" without paying any heed to the numerous other students milling around in the hallway. "Serves him right," she thought to herself, "for making me look like a fool in front of all those other boys." At the sound of his name, Daniel turned his head towards the direction he'd heard Charlotte's voice come from in surprise.

Charlotte shouted, "What do you think you're doing?!"

Daniel replied, "What are you talking about!?"

"You know perfectly well what I'm talking about!"

"Sorry, but no I don't."

Charlotte let out an irritated groan. Why was Daniel being so dense?

"Um, let me think; how you ran away from me! Me! You're future wife!"

At the sound of those words, Daniel's face hardened into anger, and he shouted back, "Didn't your mother ever teach you to not count your chickens before they hatch?! You're not my future wife! Oh, and by the way, the girl's room's further down the hall!"

Charlotte growled in rage at the mentioning of the men's room incident, and she shouted, "That was low! You disgraced and publicly humiliated me back there! Do you have any idea how stupid that made me look!?"

Daniel glared at Charlotte and said, "Well you are pretty stupid! After all, why else would you not take the hint that I've dropping for you for the last two years? I'm not interested in you, and there's nothing you can freaking do about it! So why don't you just screw yourself?!"

"Oh I can do plenty about this! Oh, and by the way, I heard on the grapevine that you signed up for glee club! Are you insane?!"

Daniel smiled, and replied, "Actually, my mind's never been clearer."

Charlotte retorted, "I don't think so pal! I'm telling you right now, you will quit straight away!"

Daniel stuck his tongue out at Charlotte and responded, "Oh no I won't! You're not my foreman! You're not even a man! And unlike your coach, you wouldn't be mistaken for one if seen in a YouTube video! I am going to join the New Directions, and be just like Finn Hudson!"

Charlotte rolled her eyes in derision and said, "Oh please! Like you're really going to choose such a looser lifestyle as a teacher like that dummie idol of yours instead of being an all-star NFL football player with me as your NFL cheerleader wife?! Please!"

Daniel roared back, "You will not speak that way about my idol! I am not going to take a football scholarship! I deserve better than being another doofus ignoramus jock, and I deserve better than to have a slut like you for a wife!"

At the sound of those particular words, all the other students in the hall went silent. No one had ever before had the nerve to stand up to Charlotte like this, least of all call her a slut. Sure she was a slut, but no one had before dared to tell that to her face. Charlotte, caught completely off guard and quite taken aback by Daniel's comeback, stepped backward, a nervous look on her face. This was not going the way she had hoped.

Daniel smiled, pleased to have gotten the advantage over Charlotte, and to now have the crowd's support. He pointed his finger at her and said, "That's right whore! I deserve so much better than you! Don't I?"

The other students in the crowd quickly agreed, since they did not want to anger him by saying the opposite. After all, they were used to Charlotte's bad moods, but not to Daniel's. With this in mind, his angry moods were a subject of great fear and uncertainty among the students.

Daniel grinned, and continued, "You're not going to tell me how to live my life. I'm going to join the New Directions right after school, and I'm going to be just like Finn Hudson. And I will never, I mean never, have you for my girlfriend in a trillion years. And you know what? There is nothing you can do about it."

After having said all this, Daniel turned, and started walking back down the hall. Right as he finished taking ten steps down the hallway, he turned his head back to Charlotte, an arrogant grin on his face, and he said, "You know what? With that in mind," before lifting his hand and flipping Charlotte the finger. "Screw yourself." With Charlotte staring in shock and horror at what Daniel had just done, Daniel chuckled, lowered his hand, and walked off down the hall, happy as a clam.

For a moment, Charlotte just stood there in the hallway, stunned by what Daniel had just done to her. Eventually, she growled furiously to herself. Daniel Taymor had now humiliated her in public twice in the same day! "That's it," she growled to herself before turning around and storming off down the hall towards the area where she knew that she'd seen the sign-up sheet with Daniel's name on it.

As she'd expected, the sign-up sheet was still there. She sneered in derision as she once again saw Daniel's name right underneath the name of that awful witch. She rolled her eyes dismissively when she saw the names directly underneath Daniel's name. Calvin Martenson, the retarded beast, Susan Caraway, the beauty who obviously needed a brain transplant considering she was friends with a beast, and Zack Skinner, that intelligent idiot basketball boy.

Chuckling in derision, Charlotte slowly drew out a black sharpie from her purse. Seconds afterward, she uncapped it, placed it up against the sign-up sheet, and elegantly signed her name in her biggest handwriting possible. Even then, there were still seven lines left blank. However, Charlotte didn't care. "After all, the more people in glee club to bring down, the better," she said mentally to herself. Smiling arrogantly, she walked down the hall towards her next class. In the end, it didn't matter how many times Daniel Taymor humiliated her or how hard he tried. In her head, she told herself that she was so going to get him hooked on her in the end, like it or not. And if anyone had anything to say about that, screw them. She was not going to let any of the losers in this school overturn the status quo. It was time to teach them all who the real boss was in the student body.

**And there you have it! Six new characters that could prove to have a major role in creating the next generation of New Directions! Awesome right? Well anyway, enjoy, and please read and review.**

**P.S: If you so desire, you are free to tell me which character out of the six potential New Directions members I introduced you view as your favorite! :)**

**P.P.S: Did you notice the little nod I made to the old newspaper comic Calvin and Hobbes by naming my autistic OC Calvin, his therapy dog Hobbes, and his very good friend/potential girlfriend Susan (after Susie)? On that note, did you also happen to notice the nod to Star Wars I made in the first two chapters? Hint, you will notice this is in how I named April's son Luke and Luke's girlfriend Mara. Any ideas on which Star Wars characters I named these two characters after?**

**Well anyway, like I said, enjoy!**


	4. The Auditions

**Hey there! Well, here's yet another chapter of my Glee-ful story! Hope you enjoy. On another note, I can definitely say that tonight's new episode of Glee, though quite crazy, and at times horrifying, was still enjoyable nonetheless. Thank God Rachel got Finn's name tattoed on her abdomen. :) She couldn't have made a better choice for honoring her late soul mate. Well anyway, for this new chapter, Mr. Schuester holds auditions for the New Directions, and we get thirteen (good thing I'm not superstitious) potential members at the ready. Six of them you will definitely recognize from the previous chapter, but you shall now also be treated to seven other OCs of mine who have equal potential as members of the glee club. What songs will our potential New Directions members perform? Who will make the cut? Find out, in chapter the fourth. And for those of you who've had enough of twerking or similar dirty/risque dancing, have no fear, all performances in this chapter, or any other chapter in this story for that matter, are perfectly clean. Finally, I know it's a bit late in the story to start saying this, but in case some of you didn't already guess, I most certainly do not own Glee or any of the elements that are considered Canon, and I definitely don't own any of the songs performed in this chapter. The only story elements in this chapter that I own are my thirteen OCs. Read on, and enjoy.**

**Chapter 4:**

**The Auditions**

Mr. Schuester was sitting patiently at the judges' desk in the auditorium as he awaited the thirteen students who had signed up for glee club. Some of the students he barely even knew, but already he couldn't wait to hear what they all had to offer for their auditions. He hoped more than anything that he'd be able to recruit them all. After all, he was eager to get a whole new batch of New Directions kids in his beloved glee club as soon as possible. Eventually, when he heard the conversations between all the kids waiting on the sidelines of the stage get increasingly fast pitched and excited, he decided that he'd waited long enough. He took a deep breath, and then said, "Auditions shall begin now."

At the sound of this, the thirteen students who had signed up for the glee club and were now waiting for their chance to audition stopped talking and stood still, shaking in anticipation for their turn to come. After a few minutes, they all heard Mr. Schuester say, "Alright, now the rule here is first come first serve. Therefore, the first student who came and signed up on the sign-up sheet will be the first to come up and sing for his or her audition. At this time, may the first person who put his or her name on the sign-up sheet come forward?"

Immediately after hearing this, Diana took a deep breath. Right as she was about to step forward, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned her head, and was surprised to see Daniel standing right by her looking her in the eyes.

As she stared at him in shock and delight, Daniel winked at her and said, "Good luck," before letting go of her shoulder. Surprised, yet happy with how her best friend had wished her luck, Diana walked up onto the stage in plain view of Mr. Schuester, a smile on her face.

As Mr. Schuester watched the first student to sign her name on the sign-up sheet walk up onstage towards the microphone, he examined her closely. For a moment, after noting her golden blonde hair, green eyes, and fair skin, he momentarily thought that it was his old student Quinn Fabray. Then his realistic side came back to him, and he remembered that Quinn Fabray was now a forty year old adult, and was working at one of the most well-known law firms in Cincinnati. Besides, he could now see that this girl's eyes were a far more recognizably green than Quinn's had been. Still, this girl certainly did still look a lot like Quinn.

A few minutes later, the girl walked up to the microphone, raised it up to her mouth, and said, "Hello, my name is Diana Eberhart, and I'll be singing _A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes_ from the famous Disney movie, Cinderella."

To the side, Charlotte sniggered, and said, "How childish."

"Shut up," Daniel hissed vehemently.

Back at the judges' table, Mr. Schuester said, "Go on ahead."

Diana took a deep breath, and sang out in a beautiful alto:

_A dream is a wish your heart makes,  
When you're fast asleep,  
In dreams you lose your heartaches,  
Whatever you wish for, you keep.  
Have faith in your dreams and someday,  
Your rainbow will come smiling through,  
No matter how your heart is grieving,  
If you keep on believing,  
The dream that you wish will come true.  
A dream is a wish your heart makes,  
When you're feeling small,  
Alone, In the night you whisper,  
Thinking no one can hear you at all.  
You wake with the morning sunlight,  
To find fortune that is smiling on you,  
Don't let your heart be filled with sorrow,  
For all you know tomorrow,  
The dream that you wish will come true.  
A dream is a wish your heart makes,  
A dream is a wish your heart makes,  
You Wake with the morning sunlight,  
To find fortune that is smiling on you,  
Don't let your heart be filled with sorrow,  
For all you know tomorrow,  
The dream that you wish will come true.  
No matter how your heart is grieving  
If you keep on believing  
The dream that you wish will come true_

Upon finishing the song, Diana took a deep breath and looked up from the microphone, her face conveying her expectancy at finding out what Mr. Schuester would say. After a few seconds that seemed like an eternity to Diana, she heard cheering coming from the area where the other students were. Sure enough, when she briefly turned her head to see who was cheering, she noticed that all but one of the 12 students awaiting their turn for their audition were eagerly clapping and cheering her on. Loudest of all, was Daniel, who was jumping up and down and whooping in pleasure. At the sight of this, Diana smiled, for she had never expected Daniel to show this much enthusiasm about her singing.

Eventually, Diana turned her head back to Mr. Schuester, who she was delighted to see clapping as well. After a few minutes, Mr. Schuester leaned down to his microphone on the judges' table and said, "Very beautiful Diana. I think you could go far on Broadway someday."

Diana smiled, and responded, "Thank you. I've always wanted to go on Broadway like Rachel Berry."

Mr. Schuester raised his head at the mentioning of Rachel. He stared at Diana for a minute, then thought to himself, "Well, I have to admit, for a girl who looks like Quinn, she certainly has a personality that's quite similar to Rachel's." Eventually, Mr. Schuester said, "Well, ok than, I will consult with you and the others later."

Diana smiled, and replied, "Thank you," before turning away from the microphone and walking back over to where the other students were waiting.

Immediately after Diana reached the area where the other students were waiting, Daniel raised his thumb up and said, "You were amazing." Susan also raised her thumbs up, as did Calvin and all the other students except Charlotte, who sternly kept her arms folded across her chest and her eyes staring up towards the ceiling in a haughty expression.

Mr. Schuester then called out, "Next!" At the sound of that word, Daniel promptly walked out confidently onto the stage and up to the microphone. As he watched the young boy who looked very much like a gray-eyed Daniel Radcliffe walk across the stage, Mr. Schuester raised his eyebrows. He had a pretty good feeling that he'd seen this boy somewhere around the school.

Seconds later, the young boy raised the microphone and confirmed Mr. Schuester's thought by saying, "Hello, my name is Daniel Taymor, and as you might already know, I am the quarterback of the Titans football team here at McKinley High School."

Mr. Schuester nodded, and Daniel continued, "I shall be singing David Archuleta's cover of _Think of Me_ from Phantom of the Opera."

At the sound of those words, Daniel heard all the other students "oohing" in awe. Mr. Schuester said, "Interesting song choice. Very well then, let's hear it."

Daniel smiled, and immediately after the piano music started playing, he sang:

_Think of me  
Think of me fondly when we've said goodbye  
Remember me once in a while, please promise me you'll try  
When you find that once again you long to take your heart back and be free...  
If you ever find a moment, spare a thought for me.  
We never said our love was evergreen  
Or as unchanging as the sea.  
But if you can still remember  
Stop and think of me.  
Think of all the things we've said and seen,  
Don't think about the things which might have been.  
Think of me,  
Think of me waking, silent and resigned.  
Imagine me  
Trying too hard to put you from my mind.  
Recall those days, look back on all those times,  
Think of the things we'll never do.  
There will never be a day when I won't think of you!  
Think of me, please say you'll think of me  
Whenever I ask you just to do  
There will never be a day when I won't think of you!  
Never be a day I won't ever think of you._

Immediately after Daniel finished singing, he lifted his head up from the microphone, a confident smile on his face, and he heard crying coming from the area where the other students were waiting for their turn to audition. Surprised, Daniel turned his head, and saw Diana crying. The other hopeful students, apart from Charlotte that is, were standing where they were, gaping at him in shock at how much talent he'd just shown.

As Daniel gaped at Diana, Diana raised her head, gave Daniel two thumbs up and mouthed, "That was so wonderful." At the sight of this, Daniel's heart warmed up tremendously. He couldn't believe he had brought Diana to tears with his singing.

Mr. Schuester started clapping, and he said, "Bravo Daniel."

Daniel turned his head back to Mr. Schuester, smiled, and said, "Thank you," before turning away and walking back to where the other students were gathered. Upon reaching that area, Diana ran up to him and gave him a huge hug. Smiling, Daniel hugged her back. As the two friends embraced, Diana continued to cry, and Daniel repeatedly whispered words of encouragement to her and told her that everything was ok. As he did all this, he could see Charlotte staring daggers at him and Diana, but he didn't care. Diana was his best friend, and she deserved this quality time with him.

Mr. Schuester called out, "Next."

Susan had time to say, "Good luck," before Calvin, with a smile on his face and his black eyes agleam, walked onto the stage with Hobbes close behind him.

Mr. Schuester's eyebrows rose briefly at the sight of the dog; but then he recognized Calvin and realized who the dog was.

Calvin, still smiling, took up the microphone and said, "Hello Mr. Schuester. I am Calvin Martenson, this is my faithful dog, Hobbes Martinson, and we will be performing _The Lion Sleeps Tonight_. You may wonder why I need my dog here for this, but Hobbes and I have performed the version we're about to perform for you for my parents at times, and as you might already know if you know me well, Hobbes is very well trained."

Mr. Schuester raised his eyebrows, his curiosity piqued at how this performance would work out, and he said, "Very well then, go on ahead."

Calvin smiled, eagerly drew out a guitar from a case slung over his shoulder and tuned it up while Hobbes got into a sitting position on his haunches next to his master. After Calvin had tuned up the instrument, he got up onto a stool nearby, started playing, and sang:

(Calvin)_ Ee-e-e-um-um-a-weh_

_Ee-e-e-um-um-a-weh_

(Guitar Solo)_ (4X)_

_In the jungle, the mighty jungle_

_The lion sleeps tonight _(Hobbes: Arooo!)

_In the jungle, the quiet jungle_

_The lion sleeps tonight _(Hobbes: Bark! Bark! Bark!)

_We-(Aroo!)-we-hoo-we-hoo-we-um-um-a-weh _(Bark! Bark! Bark!)

_We-(Aroo!)-we-hoo-we-hoo-we-um-um-a-weh _(Bark! Bark! Bark!)

_Near the village, the peaceful village_

_The lion sleeps tonight _(Aroo!)

_Near the village, the quiet village_

_The lion sleeps tonight _(Bark! Bark! Bark!)

_We-(Aroo!)-we-hoo-we-hoo-we-um-um-a-weh _(Bark! Bark! Bark!)

_We-(Aroo!)-we-hoo-we-hoo-we-um-um-a-weh _(Bark! Bark! Bark!)

(Guitar Solo)

_Hush my darling, don't fear my darling_

_The lion sleeps tonight _(Aroo!)

_Hush my darling, don't fear my darling_

_The lion sleeps tonight _(Bark! Bark! Bark!)

_We-(Aroo!)-we-hoo-we-hoo-we-um-um-a-weh _(Bark! Bark! Bark!)

_We-(Aroo!)-we-hoo-we-hoo-we-um-um-a-weh _(Bark! Bark! Bark!)

_Ne-oh-oh-ho (Aroo!)_

_Ne-oh-oh-ho (Aroo!)_

_Ne-oh-oh-ho (Aroo!)_

_We-he-we-he-he_

_Ne-oh-oh-ho (Aroo!)_

_Ne-oh-oh-ho (Aroo!)_

_Ne-oh-oh-ho (Aroo!)_

_We-he-we-he-he_

_Ee-e-e-um-um-a-weh (Bark! Bark! Bark!)_

Mere seconds after finishing the song, Calvin let out a majestic, lion-like roar that sounded very much like a real lion's roar while Hobbes let out a final wolf-like howl at the same time. Soon after this happened, Calvin straightened up on the stool again and stared intently at Mr. Schuester, eager to hear what he had to say.

For a while, Mr. Schuester just sat gaping at Calvin, stunned by the performance that the dark eyed Alex Pettyfer lookalike with a very well trained indeed German shepherd had just made for him. He eventually managed to say, "I definitely have to say that was a very interesting performance. I'll make sure to tell you what I think about your possibly joining as soon as possible."

Calvin smiled, and said, "Thank you very much," before he and Hobbes left the stage to return to where the other students were waiting.

Immediately after Calvin walked in, Susan smiled, gave Calvin a big hug, and said, "You were a roaring success."

Calvin chuckled, patted his friend on the back, and responded, "Thanks Susan, boy I hope I get in now."

Meanwhile, Daniel shook his head side-to-side in bewilderment as he thought of how very well trained Hobbes had turned out to be. "Dang, that guy's a real animal whisperer. If only I had a pet as well trained as Hobbes."

Immediately afterward, the students heard Mr. Schuester call out, "Next!"

Susan gazed deep into Calvin's coal black eyes and said, "Wish me luck," before making her way onto the stage.

As Susan walked up onto the stage, Mr. Schuester intently examined her. He noticed the long glossy black hair, slightly tanned skin, and icy blue eyes, and noted that she was surprisingly pretty. As Mr. Schue continued to watch, Susan came up to the microphone, raised it up from the stand, and said, "Hello, my name is Susan Caraway. The guy that you saw performing directly before me is my best friend, Calvin, and I will be singing _Angel_ by Sarah McLachlan in dedication to Calvin." Calvin whistled, and placed a hand over his heart, touched by what Susan was about to do in his honor.

Mr. Schuester nodded, and said, "Hmm, I'll say, that's very nice of you to do this for a friend. Ok than, let's hear it."

Susan smiled, and gestured for Brad the piano player to play. Brad smiled, for like the three kids before her, she had asked him in advance if he knew the tune for that song, and he'd been happy to make sure of it. He started playing the tune, and Susan sang out in a high alto:

_Spend all your time waiting for that second chance  
For the break that will make it ok  
There's always some reason to feel not good enough  
And it's hard at the end of the day  
I need some distraction oh beautiful release  
Memories seep from my veins  
Let me be empty and weightless and maybe  
I'll find some peace tonight  
In the arms of the Angels fly away from here  
From this dark, cold hotel room, and the endlessness that you fear  
You were pulled from the wreckage of your silent reverie  
You're in the arms of the Angels; may you find some comfort here  
So tired of the straight line, and everywhere you turn  
There's vultures and thieves at your back  
And the storm keeps on twisting, you keep on building the lies  
That you make up for all that you lack  
It don't make no difference, escaping one last time  
It's easier to believe  
In this sweet madness, oh this glorious sadness  
That brings me to my knees  
In the arms of the Angels fly away from here  
From this small, cold hotel room, and the emptiness that you fear  
You were pulled from the wreckage of your silent reverie  
In the arms of the Angels; may you find some comfort here  
You're in the arms of the Angels; may you find some comfort here_

The instant Susan finished singing, she looked up from the microphone, waiting patiently for Mr. Schuester to tell her what he thought of her performance. Mr. Schuester smiled, and said, "Very nice Susan, I'll bet your friend's very proud of you."

Susan smiled, and replied, "Thank you very much," before turning away and heading over to the area where the other students were. As she headed over there, she was surprised to see Calvin silently clapping and nearly in tears as he looked at her. Surprised and touched, she ran over to Calvin and the two friends embraced in a heartfelt hug.

"That was so amazing," Calvin said as he embraced Susan, barely keeping it together.

"Thanks Calvin," Susan said, now nearly in tears herself as she realized how touched she'd made her friend with her singing. At the sight of them, all the other students with them put their hands on their hearts and lowered their heads in respect. Even Charlotte was touched by how Susan had done such a touching gesture for her friend, and now was beginning to slightly doubt her motives.

"Next," Mr. Schuester called, and Zack promptly headed out onto the stage. At the sight of Zack, Mr. Schuester found that he certainly had to admit that the African American boy that was now walking up onto the stage looked very similar to the star, Corbin Bleu, and even had sizeable hair to boot.

Zack came up the microphone and picked it up, his dark face alight with a smile, and he said, "Hello Mr. Schue. My name is Zackary Skinner, but you may call me Zack. I will be singing _Dynamite_ by Taio Cruz."

"Let's hear it," said Mr. Schuester.

Zack drew out a guitar he'd gotten on his thirteenth birthday, tuned it up, and started playing. As he played, he enthusiastically sang:

_I-I-I-I-I-I  
I came to dance, dance, dance, dance  
I hit the floor 'cause that's my plans, plans, plans, plans  
I'm wearing all my favorite brands, brands, brands, brands  
Give me some space for both my hands, hands, hands, hands_

_Yeah, yeah  
'Cause it's goes on and on and on  
And it goes on and on and on  
I throw my hands up in the air sometimes  
Saying ayo  
Gotta let go_

_I wanna celebrate and live my life  
Saying ayo  
Baby, let's go_

_'Cause we gon' rock this club  
We gon' go all night  
We gon' light it up  
Like it's dynamite_

_'Cause I told you once  
Now I told you twice  
We gon' light it up  
Like it's dynamite_

_I came to move, move, move, move  
Get out the way of me and my crew, crew, crew, crew  
I'm in the club so I'm gonna do, do, do, do  
Just what the fo' I came here to do, do, do, do  
Yeah, yeah_

_'Cause it's goes on and on and on  
And It goes on and on and on  
I throw my hands up in the air sometimes  
Saying ayo  
Gotta let go_

_I wanna celebrate and live my life  
Saying ayo  
Baby, let's go_

_'Cause we gon' rock this club  
We gon' go all night  
We gon' light it up  
Like it's dynamite_

_'Cause I told you once  
Now I told you twice  
We gon' light it up  
Like it's dynamite_

_I'm gonna take it all like  
I'm gonna be the last one standing  
I drove around like  
I'm gonna be the last one landing_

_'Cause I-I-I believe it  
And I-I-I, I just want it all  
I just want it all  
I'm gonna put my hands in the air  
Ha-hands in the air  
Put your hands in the air-air-air-air-air-air-air-air_

_I throw my hands up in the air sometimes  
Saying ayo  
Gotta let go  
I wanna celebrate and live my life  
Saying ayo  
Baby, let's go_

_'Cause we gon' rock this club  
We gon' go all night  
We gon' light it up  
Like it's dynamite_

_'Cause I told you once  
Now I told you twice  
We gon' light it up  
Like it's dynamite_

As soon as he was done, Zack looked up from his guitar, a smile on his face as he awaited Mr. Schuester's response. Mr. Schuester nodded his head with a smile, and he said, "Excellent performance Zack."

Zack's grin grew immense at the praise, and he responded, "Thank you," before heading straight back to where the other students were gathered.

All the other students were clapping as Zack headed back to them. However, Charlotte was clapping nowhere near as enthusiastically as the other students were, but the others didn't notice. Charlotte thought to herself, "That was pretty cool, but I have bigger fish to fry than you."

Mr. Schuester called out once again for the next person to come on stage, and Charlotte strutted up onto the stage. As he watched the tall girl with a stunningly beautiful appearance seem to effortlessly glide up onto the stage, Mr. Schuester noticed her cheerios uniform and knew immediately who this person was. He'd seen her often enough at school to recognize her as Charlotte Thornton herself. Now that he thought about it, he had noticed how she'd signed her name so that it was so big that it took up almost all the remaining space on the sign-up sheet she had used. As he had the thought, Mr. Schuester wondered whether or not this girl had some sort of ulterior motive.

Charlotte picked up the microphone, a seductive smile on her face directed towards Mr. Schuester, and said, "Hello there honey. I am Charlotte Thornton," before flirtatiously blinking her eyes at the teacher thrice.

Mr. Schuester raised his eyebrows, and replied, "Please do not call me that, I already have a wife. May I ask what song you're singing?"

Charlotte put on a facial expression that said, "Seriously?" and sullenly replied, "I'm singing Carrie Underwood's _Good Girl_."

Mr. Schuester nodded his head, happy to hear this good choice of music, and said, "Very well then, let's hear it."  
Charlotte smiled once again, then turned towards the other students and said, "I will need a guitar player," before beckoning for Daniel to come. "Come on Danny, now's your time to be a star."

Daniel groaned, and said, "Do you speak English? How many times do I have to tell you no?"

Charlotte, caught off guard by Daniel's immediate refusal, turned to Calvin and said, "Fine then, I'd prefer a prince over a beast, but I guess you'll have to do."

Calvin snarled like a tiger, and stood resolutely where he was, a furious glare on his face. "The Hell I will," he said to himself in his mind. Hobbes, sensing his master's anger, snarled as well.

Charlotte's shoulders slumped, her face showing disappointment. "Good grief, why isn't anything working out for me today?" she thought to herself. With a sigh, she turned to Zack, and said, "Michael Jordan, would you like to have the honor?"

Zack smiled, and drew out his guitar. Immediately after tuning it up properly, he started playing. Charlotte, happy that she could now properly begin her audition, waited until the right time, and then sang:

_Hey, good girl  
With your head in the clouds  
I bet you I can tell you  
What you're thinkin' about  
You'll see a good boy  
Gonna give you the world  
But he's gonna leave you cryin'  
With your heart in the dirt  
His lips are dripping honey  
But he'll sting you like a bee  
So lock up all your love and  
Go and throw away the key  
Hey good girl  
Get out while you can  
I know you think you got a good man  
Why, why you gotta be so blind?  
Won't you open up your eyes?  
It's just a matter of time 'til you find  
He's no good, girl  
No good for you  
You better get to getting on your goodbye shoes and go, go, go...  
Better listen to me  
He's low, low, low...  
Hey, good girl  
You got a heart of gold  
You want a white wedding  
And a hand you can hold  
Just like you should, girl  
Like every good girl does  
Want a fairy tale ending, somebody to love  
But he's really good at lying  
Yeah, he'll leave you in the dust  
'Cause when he says forever  
Well, it don't mean much  
Hey good girl  
So good for him  
Better back away honey  
You don't know where he's been  
Why, why you gotta be so blind?  
Won't you open up your eyes?  
It's just a matter of time 'til you find  
He's no good, girl  
No good for you  
You better get to getting on your goodbye shoes and go, go, go...  
Yeah yeah yeah, he's low  
Yeah yeah yeah  
Oh, he's no good, girl  
Why can't you see?  
He'll take your heart and break it  
Listen to me, yeah  
Why, why you gotta be so blind?  
Won't you open up your eyes?  
Just a matter of time 'til you find  
He's no good, he's no good  
Won't you open up your eyes?  
Just a matter of time 'til you find  
He's no good, girl  
No good for you  
You better get to getting on your goodbye shoes_

After Charlotte finished, she looked up towards Mr. Schuester, eagerly awaiting his review. As Charlotte waited for Mr. Schuester to tell her what he thought, Diana nervously looked around and wringed her hands as she grasped the underlying message that she had a feeling Charlotte had been giving to her in her song.

Fortunately, Daniel had also grasped the underlying message, and he tapped Diana on the shoulder. Diana turned her head to look at Daniel, and he whispered in her ear, "Don't you dare worry about her. As long as I'm alive, she'll never harm you. The girl she was referring to in her cover of that song was herself, not you."

Diana's eyes widened, stunned and touched by how Daniel seemed so willing to protect her from Charlotte. She eventually managed to say, "Are you absolutely sure that there's no way she can harm me with you protecting me?"

Daniel smiled, and said, "There is one way. And that's over my dead body."

Diana smiled in joy. She had hoped that her best friend would reply in this way. The way she saw it, that kind of reply was exactly the kind of thing a best friend would say.

Meanwhile, Mr. Schuester said, "Very nice Ms. Thornton. I shall consult with you and the others later."

Charlotte curtsied, and said, "Thank you very much," before strutting back over to where the other students were.

Mr. Schuester called out, "Next," and a boy walked up on stage. At the sight of the boy, Mr. Schuester's eyes briefly opened wide in surprise. This boy had extremely pale white skin, and his hair was also a pale snowy white. In stark contrast to his pale white skin and hair, his eyes were blood red. "He must be an albino," Mr. Schuester thought to himself. However, one thing in particular that he noticed about the boy apart from his being an albino, was his metal prosthetic legs. Mr. Schuester was in awe as he gazed at the robotic legs. They were made out of steel, and were designed so that they resembled metallic skeleton legs. The feet were likewise metallic and resembled metallic tennis shoes.

After a few seconds, the albino boy with metal legs made it to the microphone, raised it to his mouth, and said, "Hello, I am Dunlap Carmichael, and I will be singing_ Down_ by Jay Sean."

"Go ahead," said Mr. Schuester.

Dunlap smiled, eager to please the much respected glee club director. Seconds later, after Brad the pianist started playing, Dunlap enthusiastically sang:

_Baby, are you down, down, down, down, down?  
Down, down  
Even if the sky is fallin' down, down, down  
You ought to know  
Tonight is the night to let it go  
Put on a show  
I wanna see how you lose control  
So leave it behind 'cause we have a night to get away  
So come on and fly with me as we make our great escape  
So, baby, don't worry  
You are my only  
You won't be lonely  
Even if the sky is falling down  
You'll be my only  
No need to worry  
Baby, are you down, down, down, down, down?  
Down, down  
Baby, are you down, down, down, down, down?  
Down, down  
Even if the sky is falling down  
Just let it be  
Come on and bring your body next to me  
I'll take you away  
Turn this place into our private getaway  
So leave it behind 'cause we have a night to get away  
So come on and fly with me as we make our great escape  
So why don't we run away  
So, baby, don't worry  
You are my only  
You won't be lonely  
Even if the sky is falling down  
You'll be my only  
No need to worry  
Baby, are you down, down, down, down, down?  
Down, down  
Baby, are you down, down, down, down, down?  
Down, down  
Even if the sky is falling down  
Down like she's supposed to be  
She gets down low for me  
Down like her temperature  
'Cause to me she's zero degrees  
She's cold, over freeze  
I got that girl from overseas  
Now she's my Miss America  
Now can I be her soldier, please?  
I'm fighting for this girl on the battlefield of love  
Got me look like baby Cupid  
Sending arrows from above  
Don't you ever leave the side of me  
And definitely, not probably  
And honestly I'm down like that economy  
So, baby, don't worry  
You are my only  
You won't be lonely  
Even if the sky is falling down  
You'll be my only  
No need to worry  
Baby, are you down, down, down, down, down?  
Down, down  
Baby, are you down, down, down, down, down?  
Down, down  
Even if the sky is falling down  
Oh, oh, the sky is falling down_

Immediately after finishing his performance, Dunlap looked up, a confident smile on his face. Mr. Schuester said, "Excellent performance Dunlap."

Dunlap grinned, responded, "Thank you Mr. Schue," and returned to where the other students were. As Dunlap returned to where the other students were waiting, he was greeted with an enthusiastic clapping and cheering from all the students except Charlotte, who was rolling her eyes dismissively. To Dunlap, the loudest among the students was a red haired girl with pale blue eyes who was leaning on a white cane. Dunlap smiled at her, for she was his very good friend, Naomi Bright, a blind girl.

Mr. Schuester called out for the next person to come, and Dunlap helped guide Naomi over to the microphone.

Once Naomi reached the microphone, she tentatively grasped onto it, and spoke into it, "Hello, I am Naomi Bright, and I will be singing _Catch my Breath_ by Kelly Clarkson."

Mr. Schuester whistled when he heard the name of the song, and he responded, "Very well then. Show me what you've got.

Naomi gave a tentative smile, and then sang:

_I don't wanna be left behind  
Distance was a friend of mine  
Catching breath in a web of lies  
I've spent most of my life  
Riding waves, playing acrobat  
Shadowboxing the other half  
Learning how to react  
I've spent most of my time  
Catching my breath, letting it go,  
Turning my cheek for the sake of the show  
Now that you know, this is my life,  
I won't be told what's supposed to be right  
Catch my breath, no one can hold me back,  
I ain't got time for that  
Catch my breath, won't let them get me down,  
It's all so simple now  
Addicted to the love I found  
Heavy heart, now a weightless cloud  
Making time for the ones that count  
I'll spend the rest of my time  
Laughing hard with the windows down  
Leaving footprints all over town  
Keeping faith, karma comes around  
I will spend the rest of my life  
Catching my breath, letting it go,  
Turning my cheek for the sake of the show  
Now that you know, this is my life,  
I won't be told what's supposed to be right  
Catch my breath, no one can hold me back,  
I ain't got time for that  
Catch my breath, won't let them get me down,  
It's all so simple now  
You helped me see  
The beauty in everything  
Catching my breath, letting it go,  
Turning my cheek for the sake of the show  
Now that you know, this is my life,  
I won't be told what's supposed to be right  
Catching my breath, letting it go,  
Turning my cheek for the sake of the show  
Now that you know, this is my life,  
I won't be told what's supposed to be right  
Catch my breath  
Catch my breath, no one can hold me back,  
I ain't got time for that  
Catch my breath, won't let them get me down,  
It's all so simple now  
It's all so simple now  
Catching my breath, letting it go,  
Turning my cheek for the sake of the show  
Now that you know, this is my life,  
I won't be told what's supposed to be right  
(Catch my breath)  
Catch my breath, no one can hold me back,  
I ain't got time for that  
(Catch my breath)  
Catch my breath, won't let them get me down,  
It's all so simple now_

Mr. Schuester happily said, "Very nice Naomi," immediately after Naomi finished singing. Naomi smiled, this time without hesitation, and she slowly made her way back to where the other students were waiting for her. As she headed back to where the other students were, she was joyed to hear the sound of the majority of them clapping and cheering her on.

Mr. Schuester called out for the next student, and he confidently walked up onto the stage. Mr. Schuester looked the boy over, and noted his fiery red hair, fair skin, and slightly muscular build. Of course, he wasn't quite as muscular as Daniel and Zack, but he was definitely not skinny. He also noted with interest that for some reason, the boy's eyes appeared to be yellow. Already Mr. Schuester had a good feeling that it wasn't his natural eye color. There also seemed to be a vaguely distinctive Scottish air around the boy.

The red-haired boy made it to the microphone, raised it up, and said, "Howdy, I'm Darren McCrimmon, and I will be singing _Heartbreak Hotel_ by Elvis Presley." At the sound of the name of the artist, Darren was happy to hear the oohing and aweing that was said by all the other students waiting to the side. Darren smiled, for he knew that Elvis Presley was definitely a favorite rock star among many people his age and higher.

Mr. Schuester also nodded his approval with a smile on his face, and he said, "Well show me what you've got Darren!"

Darren smiled, drew out a guitar, and promptly started playing:

_Well, since my baby left me,  
I found a new place to dwell.  
It's down at the end of lonely street  
at Heartbreak Hotel.  
You make me so lonely baby,  
I get so lonely,  
I get so lonely I could die.  
And although it's always crowded,  
you still can find some room.  
Where broken hearted lovers  
do cry away their gloom.  
You make me so lonely baby,  
I get so lonely,  
I get so lonely I could die.  
Well, the Bell hop's tears keep flowin',  
and the desk clerk's dressed in black.  
Well they been so long on lonely street  
They ain't ever gonna look back.  
You make me so lonely baby,  
I get so lonely,  
I get so lonely I could die.  
Hey now, if your baby leaves you,  
and you got a tale to tell.  
Just take a walk down lonely street  
to Heartbreak Hotel._

The instant Darren finished his performance, all the students to the side of the stage started clapping and cheering as loudly as they could. Even Charlotte clapped to show her appreciation of Elvis Presley's song. Darren smiled as he heard the applause coming from the area where the other students were, and even more so when he saw Mr. Schuester clapping right in front of him. "Bravo Darren," Mr. Schuester said. "I'll make sure to let you know what I think about your joining the club as soon as possible."

"Thank you very much Mr. Schue," Darren said as he placed the microphone back, turned, and walked back over to where the other students were.

At the call for the next student to come onto the stage, a blonde girl with black eyes walked up onto the stage. As Mr. Schuester watched, the girl walked up to the microphone, picked it up, and said, "Hello, I am Amber Lawson, and I will be singing _Enchanted_ by Taylor Swift."

When Darren heard this, he unobtrusively gave Amber a thumbs-up. Amber noticed this out of the corner of her eye and smiled.

Mr. Schuester said, "Well in that case, don't keep me waiting. Go on right ahead."

Amber smiled, and sang:

_There I was again tonight  
Forcing laughter, faking smiles  
Same old tired lonely place  
Walls of insincerity,  
Shifting eyes and vacancy  
Vanished when I saw your face  
All I can say is it was enchanting to meet you  
Your eyes whispered, "Have we met?"  
Across the room your silhouette  
Starts to make its way to me  
The playful conversation starts  
Counter all your quick remarks  
Like passing notes in secrecy  
And it was enchanting to meet you  
All I can say is I was enchanted to meet you  
This night is sparkling, don't you let it go  
I'm wonderstruck, blushing all the way home  
I'll spend forever wondering if you knew  
I was enchanted to meet you  
The lingering question kept me up  
2 AM, who do you love?  
I wonder 'til I'm wide awake  
And now I'm pacing back and forth  
Wishing you were at my door  
I'd open up and you would say, "Hey,  
It was enchanting to meet you,  
All I know is I was enchanted to meet you."  
This night is sparkling, don't you let it go  
I'm wonderstruck, blushing all the way home  
I'll spend forever wondering if you knew  
This night is flawless, don't you let it go  
I'm wonderstruck, dancing around all alone  
I'll spend forever wondering if you knew  
I was enchanted to meet you  
This is me praying that  
This was the very first page  
Not where the story line ends  
My thoughts will echo your name  
Until I see you again  
These are the words I held back  
As I was leaving too soon  
I was enchanted to meet you  
Please don't be in love with someone else  
Please don't have somebody waiting on you  
Please don't be in love with someone else  
Please don't have somebody waiting on you  
This night is sparkling, don't you let it go  
I'm wonderstruck, blushing all the way home  
I'll spend forever wondering if you knew  
This night is flawless, don't you let it go  
I'm wonderstruck, dancing around all alone  
I'll spend forever wondering if you knew  
I was enchanted to meet you  
Please don't be in love with someone else  
Please don't have somebody waiting on you_

As Amber sang this, she envisioned herself in Taylor Swift's place, and that the boy in the song was Darren. When she finished, she looked up from the microphone, and was pleased to see that Mr. Schuester appeared to be happy with her performance. He said, "Very nice Amber."

Amber smiled, and said, "Thanks," before walking over to the other students. As she did so, she was quite pleased to see all the other students clapping. She was especially happy to see the joyous look on Darren's face as he clapped and cheered. Immediately after she made it off the stage and into the area where the other students were, Darren seized her up in a huge hug. Laughing in pleasure, Amber hugged her friend back. As Diana and Charlotte watched this scene unfold, both of them sighed wistfully as they imagined themselves in Amber's place while Darren was replaced in their minds with Daniel.

After listening to the noises coming from the area where the students were for a few seconds, he gazed at the list, saw that there were three students left to audition, and he called out, "Next."

A Korean American boy with glasses and a body built like a dancer walk onto the stage. As Mr. Schuester intently watched the boy, the boy walked up to the microphone, picked it up, and said, "Hello, I am Cody Nakamura. I will be singing the classic tune, _These Boots are Made for Walking_."

Mr. Schuester said, "Bring it on," and Cody smiled, and snapped his fingers at Brad.

Brad started playing, and Cody sang:

_You keep saying you got something for me  
Something you call love but confess  
You've been messing where you shouldn't 've been messing  
And now someone else is getting all your best  
Well, these boots are made for walking, and that's just what they'll do  
One of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you  
You keep lyin' when you oughta be truthin'  
You keep losing when you oughta not bet  
You keep samin' when you oughta be a'changin'  
What's right is right but you ain't been right yet  
These boots are made for walking, and that's just what they'll do  
One of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you  
You keep playing where you shouldn't be playing  
And you keep thinking that you'll never get burnt (HAH)  
Well, I've just found me a brand new box of matches (YEAH)  
And what she knows you ain't had time to learn  
These boots are made for walking, and that's just what they'll do  
One of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you_

_Are you ready boots? Start walking!_

Immediately after Cody sang the last line, he enthusiastically broke out into an epic dance solo. For the first half of his solo, he vigorously tap danced and finished it off with a back flip somersault. For the second half of his solo, he tap danced again before finishing it off with a twirl that ended with a cross legged bow.

Still in his cross-legged bow position, Cody looked up towards Mr. Schuester. Mr. Schuester clapped, much to Cody's delight. Mr. Schuester then said, "Wow! Just wow! Where did you learn to dance like that?"

Cody smiled, happy to have received such praise for his dancing, and he truthfully replied, "I've taken a few pointers from watching Mike Chang on MTV."

At the sound of 'Mike Chang,' Mr. Schuester gaped at the young boy standing before him on the stage. "Boy Mike would be proud to hear of this," Mr. Schue thought to himself. It seemed that one of his former students now served as an idol for one of his aspiring new glee club members. He began to wonder who else among the auditioning students had one of his former students as their own personal idol. He decided he'd find that out later, and said, "Very nice. Ok than, I shall make sure you know about your status as soon as I'm done with the last two students auditioning."

Cody smiled, bowed in a more traditional manner, and said, "Thank you very much Mr. Schue," before he turned and walked back to where the other students were awaiting him.

Mr. Schuester called out for the second-to-last student to come up onstage. A black girl with dread locks walked up onto the stage. Seconds after she reached the microphone, the girl picked it up and said, "Good afternoon, I am Bailey Kellogg, and I will be singing _Only Girl in the World_ by Rihanna."

Mr. Schuester whistled silently to himself as he heard the name of the song. He certainly hadn't heard anyone sing that song it a long time. Mr. Schuester then said, "Let's hear it," and Bailey smiled.

Brad was still familiar with the song, and so he started playing, and Bailey sang:

_La la la la  
La la la la  
La la la la  
La la la la  
I want you to love me, like I'm a hot pie  
Keep thinkin' of me, doin' what you like  
So boy forget about the world cause it's gon' be me and you tonight  
I wanna make you beg for it, then Imma make you swallow your pride  
Want you to make me feel like I'm the only girl in the world  
Like I'm the only one that you'll ever love  
Like I'm the only one who knows your heart  
Only girl in the world...  
Like I'm the only one that's in command  
Cause I'm the only one who understands how to make you feel like a man (yeah)  
Want you to make me feel like I'm the only girl in the world  
Like I'm the only one that you'll ever love  
Like I'm the only one who knows your heart  
Only one...  
Want you to take me like a thief in the night  
Hold me like a pillow, make me feel right  
Baby I'll tell you all my secrets that I'm keepin', you can come inside  
And when you enter, you ain't leavin', be my prisoner for the night  
Want you to make me feel like I'm the only girl in the world  
Like I'm the only one that you'll ever love  
Like I'm the only one who knows your heart  
Only girl in the world...  
Like I'm the only one that's in command  
Cause I'm the only one who understands, like I'm the only one who knows your heart,  
Only one...  
Take me for a ride, ride  
Oh baby, take me high, high  
Let me make you first, first  
Oh make it last all night, night  
Take me for a ride, ride  
Oh baby, take me high, high  
Let me make you first, first  
Make it last all night  
Want you to make me feel like I'm the only girl in the world  
Like I'm the only one that you'll ever love  
Like I'm the only one who knows your heart  
Only girl in the world...  
Like I'm the only one that's in command  
Cause I'm the only one who understands how to make you feel like a man  
Only girl in the world...  
Girl in the world...  
Only girl in the world...  
Girl in the world_

Immediately after Bailey finished singing, she took a deep breath, exhaled, and looked up towards Mr. Schuester. Mr. Schuester clapped, for he could tell how Bailey had put a lot of effort into that song, and he said, "Very nice, you're a real powerhouse."

Bailey smiled in relief, said, "Thank you," and walked back over to where the other students were waiting. As she made her way back to the other students, she noticed that the majority of them were clapping. However, the two who were clapping the most enthusiastically were her two good friends Cody and Raj. At the sight of Cody clapping, she smiled, for Cody was her best friend among the two. However, she groaned inwardly at the sight of Raj clapping just as enthusiastically as Cody. While Cody was her best friend, Raj was her ex-boyfriend, and she really wished more than anything that he hadn't signed up; for one of her underlying reasons for signing up herself was in an attempt to have more private quality time with Cody away from Raj, who was constantly trying to win her back over.

Immediately after Bailey completely left the stage, Cody and Raj both reached out, shook her hand vigorously, and said "Nice job," at the same time. Immediately after this, the two boys stared daggers at each other. Bailey rolled her eyes as sparks seemed to fly furiously between the two Asian American boys.

Mr. Schuester called out, "Next," and Raj turned his head away from Cody before proudly walking up onto the stage and taking up the microphone. With a smile now on his face, the Indian American boy said in a thick Indian accent, "Good day Mr. Schue, I am Raj Patel. I shall be singing _Count on Me_ by Bruno Mars."

The majority of the other students whistled in awe at the sound of what Raj was going to be singing. Cody and Bailey, however, rolled their eyes in irritation, for they could both tell that this was an underlying attempt of Raj's at winning Bailey back. Mr. Schuester smiled, and said, "Let's hear it."

Raj smiled, politely winked at Brad, and the pianist started playing the tune. As the piano music was played, Raj happily sang:

_Oh uh-huh  
If you ever find yourself stuck in the middle of the sea  
I'll sail the world to find you  
If you ever find yourself lost in the dark and you can't see  
I'll be the light to guide you  
Find out what we're made of  
When we are called to help our friends in need  
You can count on me like 1, 2, 3  
I'll be there  
And I know when I need it  
I can count on you like 4, 3, 2  
You'll be there  
'Cause that's what friends are supposed to do, oh yeah  
Ooooooh, oooohhh yeah, yeah  
If you're tossin' and you're turnin'  
And you just can't fall asleep  
I'll sing a song beside you  
And if you ever forget how much you really mean to me  
Every day I will remind you  
Oooh  
Find out what we're made of  
When we are called to help our friends in need  
You can count on me like 1, 2, 3  
I'll be there  
And I know when I need it  
I can count on you like 4, 3, 2  
You'll be there  
'Cause that's what friends are supposed to do, oh yeah  
Ooooooh, oooohhh yeah, yeah  
You'll always have my shoulder when you cry  
I'll never let go, never say goodbye  
You know...  
You can count on me like 1, 2, 3  
I'll be there  
And I know when I need it  
I can count on you like 4, 3, 2  
You'll be there  
'Cause that's what friends are supposed to do, oh yeah  
Ooooooh, oooohhh  
You can count on me 'cause I can count on you_

Immediately after Raj finished singing, all the other students except for Cody, Bailey, and Charlotte started clapping. Even Mr. Schuester clapped, much to Raj's delight. After he finished clapping, Mr. Schuester said into his microphone, "Very good Raj. You're a real crowd pleaser."

Raj smiled, and said, "Thank you very much," before he placed his own microphone back where it had been and walked back over to where the other students were.

For a few minutes, the students all started conversing amongst themselves and discussing what they believed their chances of getting into the glee club were. Mr. Schuester smiled as he heard the students excitedly talking about how they hoped very much to get in. To be honest, he himself believed that they all now more or less deserved to be on the glee club. They had all done a very good job at their songs, and even Charlotte Thornton deserved a chance. After all, in years past, two girls very similar to her in personality before joining the club; namely, Quinn Fabray and Kitty Wilde, had developed into much nicer girls over time as members of the glee club, and he hoped very much for a similar outcome to occur for Charlotte. And so, with a smile on his face, he drew a check mark in the approved square for all thirteen students, got up from his chair, and made his way to where all thirteen students who'd auditioned were waiting patiently. At the sight of Mr. Schuester coming towards them with the list, they all held their breath, expectantly awaiting their fate. Even Hobbes stopped panting and kept his jaws firmly closed as he waited for his master's reaction.

Mr. Schuester smiled, fingered the list gingerly in his hands, and said, "I have made careful consideration for all of you, and I have decided," before lifting up the list and turning it over so that all the students could clearly see what he'd written on the paper and saying, "You're all in!" At the sound of this, all thirteen students cheered and whooped in delight. Even Hobbes joyfully barked harmoniously alongside the cheering students.

Eventually, Mr. Schuester raised his hand for silence, and the students went quiet. Hobbes, well trained to be quiet with his master, quieted down as well. Mr. Schuester smiled, and then said, "Alright everyone, as the newest members of the New Directions, practice starts tomorrow at recess! Go on home now, get your homework done, and practice as best as you can for tomorrow!" The students all cheered, and dashed out of the auditorium to get to the parking lot where they all knew their parents would be waiting to pick them up. Already they couldn't wait for the next day of school.

**Alright peoples, here's your new chapter of my story! Please read, enjoy, and most of all, review. I NEED my reviews! On another note, I hope you all find at least one character among my thirteen OCs here in this chapter that you found particularly enjoyable. Also, since this is my first chapter in which characters actually sing any songs, I especially hope you find this worth your time :)**

**Songs Used:**

**- A Dream is a Wish your Heart Makes from Disney's Cinderella**

**- Think of Me from Phantom of the Opera as covered by David Archuleta**

**- The Lion Sleeps Tonight by Solomon Linda and used in The Lion King**

**- Angel by Sarah McLachlan**

**- Dynamite by Taio Cruz**

**- Good Girl by Carrie Underwood**

**- Down by Jay Sean**

**- Catch my Breath by Kelly Clarkson**

**- Heartbreak Hotel by Elvis Presley**

**- Enchanted by Taylor Swift**

**- These Boots are Made for Walking by Lee Hazelwood and recorded by Nancy Sinatra**

**- Only Girl in the World by Rihanna**

**- Count on Me by Bruno Mars**

**Coming up next: The thirteen new gleeks of the New Directions have their first glee club in the choir room, get to know each other, learn some valuable lessons, confess their idols among past New Directions members (speaking of which. . .), and are informed of a very special surprise that they could end up getting treated to later in the year within the Glee world.**

**Well that's it for now. Please read, review, and most of all enjoy! :)**


	5. Something to Look Forward to

**Hey there everyone! Well, here's this week's newest addition to my story! In this chapter, prepare to witness the thirteen new members of the New Directions have their first glee club meeting together. Please r&r. :)**

**Again, I do not own Glee.**

**Chapter 5:**

**Something to Look Forward To**

The next day, during recess no less, Diana Eberhart was sitting down on one of the red chairs arranged in a crescent shape on an elevated area of the glee-club's room. Sitting to her left was Daniel Taymor and Calvin Martenson was sitting next to her on the right. Diana took deep breathes as she waited for Mr. Schuester to enter the room and get started on the first lesson this year. She had been so overjoyed when she'd heard that she'd made it into the glee club. Now she couldn't wait to get started. She especially hoped to strengthen her friendship with Daniel and Susan as well as making new friends among the majority of the other members. Little did she know that the majority of the other students were more or less thinking the same thing. The only member who wasn't thinking along these lines was Charlotte. The only thoughts on her mind were plots on how to bring the other members down and getting her hooks into Daniel.

Eventually, the students all heard footsteps coming from the hallway, and all the students in the room but Charlotte leaned forward in anticipation. As they had hoped, Mr. Schuester himself entered the room seconds later, and they all cheered. Mr. Schuester smiled, happy to see how the majority of his students were happy to see him there. Smiling, Mr. Schuester waved and bowed to his students, before clapping his hands twice and saying, "Good to see you everyone! Alright! Who among you is happy to be in this club?" The other students all raised their hands. Charlotte reluctantly raised hers as well, for she did not want anyone to see through to her ulterior motives.

Mr. Schuester smiled, and said, "Good for you everyone! Alright, now before we start out on our first week's assignment, I'd like to discuss a few things with you." At the sound of this, the other students clasped their hands together in anticipation, eager to hear what Mr. Schuester wanted to discuss with them.

Mr. Schuester stated, "The first thing I'd like for us to do, is for all thirteen of you to stand up and tell me and the others a few things about yourself. That way we can break the ice and build up some camaraderie among us." He then turned to Diana and said, "Diana, as the first to audition, would you like to have the honor first?"

Diana gulped, unsure of whether or not she wanted to do this. Daniel placed his hand on her shoulder, and whispered, "It's ok. Everything will be fine." After hearing this, Diana took a deep breath, got up from her seat, and walked up to take a position in front of all the other members. The other members all cheered enthusiastically at Diana.

Diana smiled nervously, and eventually managed to say, "Hello everyone. As you heard me say yesterday, I am Diana Eberhart." At the sight of the other students nodding and gesturing for her to continue, she continued, "This is my third year at this school, and I hope to someday be a Broadway actress." At the sound of the cheers of approval from the majority of the other members, she fully committed herself and said, "One of my closest friends here is Susan Caraway, but my dearest companion I have ever had, is Daniel Taymor." At the sound of those words, Diana heard her two good friends cheer loudly. Completely emboldened now, Diana finished by saying, "However, I hope very much that by the end of this year, I will have formed excellent friendships with the rest of you, and I hope that I will have the time of my life." The instant Diana finished, all the other members apart from Charlotte clapped enthusiastically. Smiling, Diana headed back to her seat.

Daniel got up from his seat next, and all the other students cheered enthusiastically as he took the initiative and stood proudly in front of them. Daniel smiled, and said, "Hello everyone. I am Daniel Taymor, the quarterback of the McKinley High Titans. As you all might know, the football team hasn't lost a single game with me as the quarterback, and I definitely enjoy football. However, nowadays, I feel that while I do enjoy football, I don't want to pursue a football scholarship. Deep inside, I have a feeling that I have a different dream I want to pursue. Also, within this room, is a very special someone that I care about a lot, and while I am hoping to develop strong friendships with the majority of you, I am also hoping very much that I will be able to develop the courage I need to tell this special someone how I feel and bring our friendship to a much higher level. Most of all, I am hoping that by being a member of the New Directions, I will eventually grow up to be just as great as my own personal idol, Finn Hudson." At the sound of the name, all the students apart from Charlotte cheered excitedly. Smiling, Daniel returned to his seat.

The next student to get up from his chair was Calvin. Calvin confidently walked up to where Daniel and Diana had been standing earlier. Hobbes followed close behind his master. Calvin turned to face the students, his black eyes agleam with confidence, and said, "Hello everyone. I am Calvin Martenson, and this is my faithful dog, Hobbes Martinson. Some of you may wonder why I'm allowed to have my dog in school with me. Well here's the thing; I have high functioning Autism, and Hobbes here, was bought for me by my parents when I was thirteen years old and he was a puppy for use as a therapy dog. Over time, I grew to like having Hobbes with me, and I started taking him with me everywhere I went. In fact, thanks to my parents' work in revising my IEP accommodations, I even bring him to school. I am especially happy to have done this because while Hobbes is a great therapy dog, he is also very well trained for a variety of other activities, such as . . ."

"Oh like we care," Charlotte said arrogantly.

At the sound of this, Calvin turned his head towards her, his anger showing clearly on his face. He angrily stated, "I beg your pardon?"

Charlotte sneered, tossed her blonde hair over her left shoulder, and said, "Mr. Schuester said that you were supposed to tell us about yourself, not about your stupid dog."

Calvin pointed right pointer finger at Charlotte and viciously growled, "Watch it you little . . ."

But Charlotte would have none of it, and she continued, "And it's not like there's anything else we want to hear about you either! You may look like a human, but in truth, you're really a wild animal. And you've already told us that your autistic, so you're basically a retard, and therefore not very interesting at all."

At the sound of Charlotte's scathing remarks, Susan, Diana, Daniel, and all the other members gaped at the cheer leader in horror. Mr. Schuester was shocked at what he was hearing. As Charlotte saw Calvin's face contort further in his fury, Charlotte smiled to herself, for so far, things were going exactly as she'd planned.

At the sight of Calvin tensing up in fury, Mr. Schuester said, "Calvin, please calm down."

Calvin, however, was so angry that he didn't hear Mr. Schuester, and he vehemently hissed, "Don't push me hag!"

Charlotte rolled her eyes and responded, "Or else what dodo? You can't do anything to me. And I certainly doubt that your dog will do anything to me. From the way he looks right now, he doesn't even understand what's going on."

Hobbes, to Charlotte's credit, did look confused. However, what Charlotte had said gave Calvin the perfect idea on how to get back at her. Abruptly smiling, he looked at Hobbes from the corner of his eyes, and said, "Hobbes." The dog turned his head towards his master. Calvin pointed at Charlotte, and said "Danger." Immediately after hearing this, Hobbes whipped his head towards Charlotte and snarled furiously. Charlotte's confident and arrogant smile faded as she watched this scene unfold, for this was not what she'd expected.

As Hobbes snarled viciously at Charlotte, Calvin smiled, and said, "As you can see, Hobbes is very well trained. Simply by pointing at something or someone and saying the word 'danger,' he instantly learns to consider it as a threat to me, his master. Therefore, with you now considered as a threat to me in his eyes, you need only to make it even seem as if your about to do harm to me, and he will do everything in his power to protect me."

Charlotte, angered by how Calvin was daring to brag about his dog when he should have already been cowed down into furiously running after her to attack her, rose furiously up from her seat and stormed resolutely towards the boy. With an angry snarl on her face, she indignantly began, "Ok do you seriously expect me to believe . . . ?"

Unfortunately, before Charlotte could finish, she instantly learned the hard way that Calvin was indeed telling the truth. Hobbes, upon seeing Charlotte storm up towards his master and clench her fists as if she were about to punch at Calvin, leaped at her with a furious bark. Barking still, Hobbes crashed right into Charlotte, who screamed as she found herself on the receiving end of the German shepherd's pounce. She fell flat on the floor with Hobbes standing over her and barking furiously in her face.

As Charlotte gazed up into the face of the enraged dog with a terrified look on her own face, she saw Calvin confidently walk up to her. Seconds later, Calvin placed his foot down on her chest, leaned over with a cold look on his face, and said, "Now you listen to me you little bitch. I will have none of your conceited princess attitude against me. You are now my enemy, and with the position you're in now, all I have to do is say the right command word, and Hobbes will rip you apart. And I won't stop him either. Now you are going to let me finish, and you will not repeat what you just did to me with anyone else this lesson, or you will rue this day for the rest of your newly reduced life. Got it?"

Charlotte said nothing, unwilling to show any sign of weakness. Calvin growled like a tiger, and stated, "I said, GOT IT!?" Upon hearing this sudden change in volume, Charlotte gazed in terror at Calvin. At the sight of the now two angry faces staring down at her, she decided that Calvin was right. She had lost. As dispirited as she was in how her plans had now brutally failed, she definitely did not want to be ripped limb from limb by the ferocious dog that was now standing over her, and from what she'd heard in Calvin's tone, she knew that he hadn't been kidding when he'd told her about how Hobbes would happily rip her apart without hesitation on his command. Besides, even if the dog weren't there, she could tell from the look on Calvin's face that he would be a dangerous enemy, and she already had enough enemies among the other students among the low popularity caste. Only now did she notice how in stark contrast to his ash blonde hair, Calvin's eyes were jet black pools, and that in anger, they were hardened and darkened to the point that they looked as if they were boring straight into her soul. Gulping nervously, she managed to croak, "Yes, I got it beast," before noticing Calvin's abrupt snarl and preparation to lift up his hand and shout. Upon noticing this, she hurriedly shouted, "I meant Calvin! Yes! I got it Calvin!" Calvin snarled, lowered his hand, and lifted his foot off of Charlotte. He turned his head to Hobbes and said, "Hobbes, off." The dog got off of Charlotte, and Charlotte hurriedly got up and rushed straight back to her chair.

As soon as Charlotte was back in her chair, Calvin and Hobbes headed back to where they'd been before the unpleasant incident with Charlotte. The instant Calvin turned back to face the other members once again, he was smiling again, and he said, "So! Where was I?"

The other members, who had been looking in awe at the way Calvin and Hobbes had handled the potentially ugly situation, were quick to remind him that he had been about to tell them about some of the other tricks that Hobbes was capable of doing. Calvin smiled, and said, "Exactly. Well as you can see, he is a very well trained body guard of mine. Also, I have trained him to sometimes join in with me when I perform certain songs, move or stay in a specific spot without having to use a leash when in familiar places, and to never consume any food or liquid that isn't his own food or water in his food and water bowls. And there are also a few other things, but now back to me. Being autistic, I have great difficulty in social situations. However, I have already had two very good friends in my life from very early ages in my life. Susan Caraway has been my best friend since preschool, and Hobbes has been one of my greatest family allies ever since we first got to know each other as master and pet. However, I hope very much to develop close friendships with all other members of this club that I don't later consider an enemy. Also, I have a variety of interests, including animals, dinosaurs, fantastical creatures, and a large number of other things. In fact, I would like very much to work with the animals at a zoo when I grow up. Once again, I hope that the majority of you become my friends."

The other students clapped and cheered as Calvin returned to his seat. Immediately after Calvin sat down, Daniel leaned over towards him and said, "I guess I'm not alone in having Charlotte on my list of enemies."

Calvin smiled, and said, "Thanks. I am happy to be on your side in this matter."

After a few minutes, all the other members had successfully told about themselves. With that task out of the way, Mr. Schuester said, "Well I'm glad that we've all gotten to know each other better. Now, who can tell me what's coming up for us in two months from now?"

Darren raised his hand. "Yes Darren?" Mr. Schuester asked.

Darren lowered his hand and replied, "Would I be correct in guessing Sectionals?"

"Correct!" Mr. Schuester shouted happily in response, and all the other members cheered in excitement.

Mr. Schuester then said, "Alright everyone! With that in mind, we need to make sure that we all have our act together for that. Therefore, since you are all completely new to this club, I want to make sure that we try our hardest in preparing for your first competition. Bad news, I am afraid I will have to inform you that the musical was moved to after Sectionals due to technical difficulties."

At the sound of the disappointed noises that the glee clubbers made, Mr. Schuester continued, "However, a few months from now, we shall be doing the old New Directions tradition of the mash-up competition between the boys and the girls of this club!" At the sound of this, the New Directions all cheered. Mr. Schuester continued, "Now, I shall go over one other thing before I tell you about the week's assignment. How many of you have watched either all eight, or at least some of the Harry Potter movies?" All thirteen students raised their hands.

Mr. Schuester smiled, and said, "Alright, now remember what Harry said to Voldemort about love and friendship in the fifth movie?" The New Directions kids nodded to indicate yes. Mr. Schuester continued, "Alright, now here's the thing, an underlying message that was made in what was said about those two things in that movie, is how love and friendship are among the most valuable things in the world, yet can't be bought with money or created artificially. But there is also another aspect about these two things that relates them to another valuable element of life; trust." After saying this, Mr. Schuester walked over to the white board and wrote the word 'trust' on it.

After writing trust on the white board, Mr. Schuester turned to look at his new students and said, "Now love and friendship have two things in common. The first of these I have already told you. They are among the most valuable things in the world, and are even more so because they are among the few things of value that can't be bought or created artificially. If they could, then they would be worthless. However, the other thing these two elements have in common makes them very similar indeed to trust, which is in turn like ice." Upon saying this, Mr. Schuester drew a picture of a frozen lake with cracks spread out all over the surface of the ice.

Upon finishing his picture, Mr. Schuester looked back at his students, who we was pleased to notice were still gazing intently and with interest. Smiling, Mr. Schuester continued by saying, "Now ice, as those of you who've taken biology might know, is water in its solid form. Also, natural ice takes a very long time to form and build up. However, despite how long it can take to form, it is very easy to break as seen in this drawing on the white board. In that regard, trust is very much like ice. Like ice, trust is easy to break, but takes time to build. These facts are all very important information for the glee club, for in order for us to truly make it, we all need to be able to trust each other, and for this to truly be a happy memory for all of us, friendship is the key to trust."

Mr. Schuester leaned forward, and said, "That being said, I am counting on you to work as best as you can to not only train as hard as you can for your performing, singing, dancing, and other skills for the club, but to also develop strong friendships between each other and to be able to trust each other." No sooner had Mr. Schuester said this, when all the students realized what was truly lying ahead of them. Lying in wait for them ahead, was not only a challenge of their abilities for use in glee club, but also for their ability to trust and develop friendships with other people. Upon realizing this, all thirteen students whistled silently to themselves. Glee club, was truly an epic club.

Eventually, Mr. Schuester said "Alright with that being said, I shall discuss one other thing with you while telling about this week's assignment with you all. Do any of you remember Cody's audition yesterday?" All the glee club members replied that they did.

Mr. Schuester replied to this, "As you may or may not also remember, when I complemented Cody on his dancing, he told me that he was inspired to become a great dancer by watching Mike Chang himself on MTV. How many of you have heard of the famous dancer Mike Chang?" The New Directions raised their hands.

Mr. Schuester then said, "Well as you probably already know, Mike Chang was once sitting in this very room as one of my students many years ago. Long before he became a famous dancer, he was just another ordinary student like you. Now he's gone far in his life all thanks to his time in the New Directions, and has even inspired one of you guys to be just like him. That being said, I shall ask all of you one question; do you have a personal idol among former members of this club that are now famous?" All thirteen students immediately replied.

Diana: "Yes. Rachel Berry."

Daniel: "Finn Hudson."

Calvin: "Sam Evans."

Susan: "Mercedes Jones Evans."

Zack: "Noah Puckerman."

Charlotte: "Quinn Fabray."

Dunlap: "Artie Abrams."

Naomi: "Santana Lopez."

Darren: "Joseph Hart."

Amber: "Brittany Pearce."

Cody: "Mike Chang."

Bailey: "Tina Cohen Chang."

Raj: "I actually have two. Kurt Hummel and Blaine Anderson."

At the sound of hearing how such a large majority of his former students served as idols and sources of inspiration for his new students, Mr. Schuester smiled, and said, "Well in that case, I am happy to inform you that the assignment of this week is," before turning around, erasing what he'd already written on the white board, and writing down:

**WWNDD**

**What Would the New Directions Do?**

At the sight of this, the thirteen brand new members of the New Directions cheered. Mr. Schuester eagerly responded to this, "That's right everyone! This week, I want each of you to perform a song that you think that your own personal idol among the New Directions alumni would do!" The cheering of the New Directions members reached fever pitch after Mr. Schuester shouted this.

Eventually, Mr. Schuester raised his hand, and the thirteen students went silent. Mr. Schuester said, "Alright now one more thing. Just so you know; I am happy to inform you that if things go as planned, there will be something going on later this year at around the time that we will hopefully be preparing for Regionals that I know that you will all enjoy very much. And by that, I'm not referring to the school musical."

The New Directions members looked at each other, all very intrigued by what this special treat might be.

Dunlap said, "What is it?"

Mr. Schuester responded, "It's a surprise. However, I can tell you right now that it is something that you will definitely find worth looking forward to."

The bell rang seconds after Mr. Schuester finished saying this. Mr. Schuester said, "Well there's the bell. Remember, after school, we will all meet up here for our first true meeting. And remember the week's assignment!"

The students all gathered up their supplies and belongings and exited the glee club room to head to their classes, all of them eagerly awaiting the wonders and fun times to come.

**And there you have it! I hope you enjoy this chapter. Please read and review.**

**On that note, what do you think about how so many former New Directions members are viewed by the new generation as idols? Speaking of which, any ideas on what the "special surprise" Mr. Schuester mentioned might be? I certainly hope you have some because I wouldn't want to be the only one who knows what it is or could be.**

**Coming up next: Time to switch back to the alumni of the glee club! In other words, Finn begins to set things up for the reunion, starting with a phone call with a "very close" friend of his indeed. Any ideas on who he might talk to first in setting up the reunion? Please review and tell me what you think! :)**


	6. The First Invitation

**Aloha! I'm back with the newest chapter for this Glee-ful story! As promised, this story now switches back to Finn's 3rd person POV, and also introduces the 3rd person POV of another member of the New Directions alumni who has an especially close relationship with Finn. Any ideas as to who? Read on and find out! All fans of one of the major pairings/ships of Glee, rejoice now!**

**Well enough of my rambling. On with the story! Please read and review! Again, I do not own Glee.**

**Chapter 6:**

**The First Invitation**

Two months later, Finn smiled as he happily tucked into his delicious flank steak dinner. As usual, he'd had a productive day at the school. He felt very happy as he thought once again about how all his students had heard about what had happened to him over the summer and had treated him like a hero every school day since. The two students who were especially proud of him were Luke and Mara. His smile grew immense as he thought of how inspiring a figure he had now become to all his students. That is, at least to all the ones who weren't still in juvie, he thought grimly as he remembered what had happened to Tyler for his actions at the grocery store.

As he had the thought, he thought once again about his idea for a New Directions reunion. He remembered how he had told Mr. Schuester about how he intended to be released from the hospital and spend a few months getting settled back into his life outside the hospital before he started to work on setting things up for the reunion. He thought to himself, "Well, it's been at least two to three months now since I left the hospital. I definitely think I'm ready to get started on this plan now."

Smiling, he made up his mind, and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. Right as he was about to access the 'friends' contacts group on his phone, he decided that he should probably call Mr. Schue first. With that decision made, Finn selected Mr. Schue from his contacts, and selected the 'call' option. Finn put his phone up to his ear, waited a few seconds, and was happy when he heard the familiar voice of his former teacher say, "Hello?"

Finn replied, "Hey there Mr. Schue."

"Well good evening to you to Finn," Mr. Schuester's voice replied from the other end. "How is everything going?"

"Things are going perfectly fine Mr. Schue. I'd say that things have more or less gotten back to normal for me. Admittedly though, I'm still swimming in praise with my students."

Finn heard Mr. Schuester chuckle and respond, "Well I'm certainly glad to hear that. In fact, you'll be pleased to know that one of my new students this year practically worships you."

Finn smiled, happy to hear this. In fact, he was also quite surprised that there were people at McKinley High who viewed him as a personal idol. He eventually stated, "Well that's nice. Talking of which, what's it like with all the new students?"

Mr. Schuester was quick to reply, "Oh it's as fun as always. You honestly wouldn't believe how much this new generation of New Directions reminds me of you and the others."

"That's debatable," Finn said with a grin. "Well in that case, I will definitely be looking forward to meeting them when I come to visit."

"I can certainly agree with you there," Mr. Schue replied. "By the way, have you made any progress on setting everything up for the reunion?"

"Not yet, but I definitely think that now's the right time to get started on that. In fact, I was about to go ahead and get to work on it before I decided that I might as well call you and inform you about it first."

"Sounds good to me," Mr. Schuester replied with clear approval in his voice. "Well let me know if you have any success please."

"Will do," Finn replied. Immediately afterward, Finn and Mr. Schue said their goodbyes, and Finn ended the call.

As he sat at his dinner table, he debated over which of his friends from the glee club he should invite first. To be honest, now that he thought about it, he didn't even know where to find them all. Even though he had them all on his contacts list in his cell phone, he had only managed to maintain a close phone-based relationship with a small handful of them; namely Rachel and Kurt. As he had the thought, he sighed to himself as he remembered the tremendous heartbreak he'd felt in the midst of all the break-up drama he and Rachel had undergone that fateful first year directly after their graduation. However, he then remembered the wonderful day in which he and all his other friends in the glee club had watched Rachel perform in Funny Girl, and he felt happy again. As he had the thought, he decided, "That's it; I'm going to call Rachel right now. The sooner I get her invitation out of the way, the better."

His mind made up, Finn brought up the section on his contact list reserved for his friends and selected 'Rachel Berry.' As Finn listened intently to the buzzing tone coming from his phone as he held it up to his ear, he kept saying to himself in his mind, "Please pick up, please pick up, please pick up . . ."

. . . . .

Rachel Berry was exhausted. She couldn't help but breathe out a sigh of relief as she entered her luxurious New York City apartment room. She looked around the room and sighed in content as she noticed that it was more or less exactly the way she'd left it. The room was just as clean, comforting, and welcoming as she always loved it to be; especially on a night like this.

Smiling, Rachel gently placed her large handbag on the floor next to a comfortable armchair nearby the television, and then gratefully lowered herself down onto the armchair. She sighed in contentment as she remembered her wondrous performance from half an hour or so earlier. That night had been the time of the last scheduled performance of the reawakened classic, _Wicked_. As she had the thought, she smiled, for she couldn't have been happier with the way it had turned out for her. After all, she'd been lucky enough to be cast as no less than Elphaba herself. Her smile grew wider as she remembered the massive roar of excitement and awe that had erupted from the throats of the audience. That applause had been just enough to convince her to briefly stay for half an hour more to take part in the group photo shoot of the cast and to briefly take part in interviews and sign autographs. However, after that half hour had ended, she had felt far too tired for any more time outside her apartment that night. Now, here she was, sitting comfortably in her apartment as she thought of her performance that night. And as usual, she unconsciously compared her performance in Wicked to her performance in the reawakening of Funny Girl so many years ago, when all her friends from the glee club had come to watch. She sighed as she realized how her recent performance in Wicked was truly second only to her performance in Funny Girl. After all, no enthusiastic audience she'd met ever since that fateful day could ever truly be the same as the one that had included her greatest friends she had ever known in her entire life.

As she had the thought, she sighed wearily as she thought of how all of her friends from the glee club had moved on in their lives in their own unique ways. She chuckled as she remembered watching Mike dancing his heart out on MTV with his wife, her friend Tina, in a demonstration for aspiring contestants on So You Think you can Dance? She grinned as she remembered watching the most recent movie produced that had Sam starring in one of the main roles, and how that same movie had been recently produced by Artie in his studio, Reels on Wheels, with some helpful assistance from Puck. She sighed as she remembered the powerful ballad sung by Mercedes that had recently been released last month, and also the magnificent reviews that had been given for Blaine's heart stopping performance as Joseph in Andrew Lloyd Webber's classic, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat last year. She nodded her head in approval as she remembered what she'd read in the news about how Quinn and Joe had managed to land a dangerous murderer and the leader of a gang of robbers, respectively, in jail almost effortlessly. Finally, she smiled warmly as she remembered how wonderfully her very good friend, Finn, was doing in his position as American Literature teacher at one of the most prodigious high schools in Ohio. As she had the thought, her smile grew even wider as she stroked the beautiful fluffy white winter coat that had been made just for her by Kurt, her best friend, in his job at Vogue. And even after thinking about these friends in particular, there were still more of her friends from the glee club who were doing such a great job in their lives these days.

As Rachel had the thought, she let out a long sigh; and this one an unhappy one. Now that she thought about it, despite all the fame and wealth she had, the one thing that she now truly wished more than anything else, was to be with all her friends from the glee club again. Her life had never been the same without them all constantly in her life. Of course, she lived on the floor directly beneath the one that Kurt lived on, and she maintained close technological relationships with the majority of her friends, namely Finn; but it just wasn't the same as it had been when they had all been together as one big happy family during her senior year at McKinley High School.

However, what she didn't know yet, was how that very happiness would soon come right to her from around the corner. Seconds after she started to wonder when she should start getting ready for bed, she heard her cell phone ringing. When she heard the ring tone, she immediately hurried to dig her phone out of her coat pocket, for it was playing the _Defying Gravity_ ring tone, a ring tone she had reserved specifically for her friends in the glee club from her years at McKinley High School, and in particular, Finn and Kurt. In fact, those same two friends were the only friends who ever contacted her by phone. All her other friends contacted her through email and Facebook.

Within seconds, she drew her phone out from her coat pocket, and her heart leaped when she noticed who was calling. It was Finn. Upon seeing that Finn was calling, she immediately answered without hesitation. "Hello?" Rachel asked before even giving her caller a chance to say anything beforehand. She just so badly was hoping that Finn was truly calling her now.

Much to her delight, she heard Finn's familiar voice say, "Hey Rachel. How are you doing?"

Rachel smiled, and her eyes showed her euphoria at hearing Finn's voice after such a long time. Nearly in tears, she replied, "Everything's going wonderfully, especially now that you're talking to me."

She heard Finn chuckle happily, and he said, "That's good to hear. I also hear that tonight was your last scheduled performance of the current reawakening of Wicked! How did it go?"

"It was wonderful, but it was still second only to my performance in Funny Girl when you were in the audience with the others."

"Really? Wow. That's really touching. You know what? Now that you mention it, I wanted to talk to you about something regarding us and our other friends in the glee club."

Rachel, her curiosity piqued, and with a ray of hope beginning to build in her heart, replied, "Go on."

"Well a few months ago, I realized just how long it's been since we were all together in the same place. With that in mind, I started to think, what if we all came back together again at least one more time? I mean, from my experiences, I'm pretty sure that even though we've all moved on in our lives in our ways, we all still feel pretty lonely at times. Therefore, I was thinking that, maybe we could all come together at Lima for a New Directions reunion. And not only that, but I was also thinking that since Mr. Schuester now has an entirely new generation of New Directions members, perhaps we could serve as mentors to his new students when they're getting ready for Regionals, and maybe even Nationals. I've already talked with Mr. Schue and he's perfectly happy with it. Therefore, I thought that I'd call you first since you're one of the only two people who I actually am able to easily get ahold of on my phone and because of how close we are as friends. So anyway, what do you think?"

For a few minutes or so, Rachel stood with her phone up to her ear, thinking very carefully about what Finn had suggested. As she had the thought, she realized with a growing certainty that she actually agreed with Finn. Even with Kurt living in the same apartment building as her, he couldn't replace all of their friends from the glee club, and she still felt lonely in her life despite all her fame and wealth. In that instant, Rachel made up her mind, and said, "Actually, I think you're right Finn. I think that's an excellent idea."

Immediately after Rachel said this, she got up from her chair and walked over to the counter in the kitchen directly in front of the foyer to her apartment room. As she stood at the counter with her phone still held up to her ear, she said, "On that note, is there anything you'd like for me to do to help you with setting this up?"

Finn almost instantly responded, "Yes, as a matter of fact there is. Do you think you could find the mail addresses of everyone apart from you and Kurt? I don't quite have a full idea of where the others live, and I was thinking that it might be easier for you to find them. I'm also thinking of calling Kurt and having him help you out, after inviting him of course."

Rachel smiled, for she knew that Kurt would almost certainly agree to this idea, and she said, "Sounds perfect. I'll make sure to drop by his apartment later after you've had a chance to talk to him."

"Sounds good. Thanks Rachel. You're the best."

"Thanks Finn. Well, goodbye for now."

"Ok than, I'll make sure to talk to you some more tomorrow. Good night."

"Thanks. Good night."

Immediately after saying her good byes, Rachel lowered her phone from her ear and hung up. As she stared at the phone after ending the call, she smiled happily as she thought of how wonderful it had been to talk to Finn after having waited for such a long time. Besides, if things went according to plan, she knew that she'd have a very fun and happy time ahead of her with all her friends. Still smiling, she turned around in preparation to walk over to her handbag and prepare herself for when she visited Kurt later that night; only to stop and gape in horror when she saw who was now standing right in front of her. Looming in front of her, his handsome face distorted into a feral snarl, his blue eyes blazing with fury, his fists clenched, and his dark brown hair seeming to bristle up like porcupine quills in his anger, was her roommate, Brody Weston.

Shocked and terrified at Brody's unexpected arrival back at the apartment, Rachel fearfully asked, "When . . . when did you get back here?"

Brody growled, and shouted back, "Who were you talking to?!"

**There you have it! Finchel fans, you're free to celebrate! Really, was there any doubt that this story would be Finchel friendly? :) There wasn't in my mind (I apologize in advance if that sounded conceited; and also to any fans of ships with Rachel and another guy). On that note, Brody seems pretty angry now don't you think? Dunn, dunn, dunn! Do I detect drama? I certainly think so! I apologize immediately to all fans of Brody, or, perish the thought, the damned Brochel pairing. Anyways, please read and review, especially review!**

**Coming up next: Things get dangerous, and I'm talking life-threatening, between Rachel and Brody. Meanwhile, Finn talks New Directions reunion with Kurt, who decides to take a major leap to help Rachel.**

**Well anyway, once again, please read and review! And I hope very much that all you gleeks out there either enjoyed last week's Glee Billy Joel centric episode, or are looking forward to this week's episode! :)**


	7. A Chance at Salvation

**Hey there! For all you Gleeks out there, here is the newest chapter to be posted here for you to read! I hope you enjoy it! And I also hope you found yesterday's puppet infested episode of Glee enjoyable! Just so any fans of Brody are warned, you are probably going to so hate me for what goes down in this chapter regarding him. I'm sorry, but I'm just too much of a Finchel fan to really be all that friendly towards him in this story.**

**Anyway, for all Gleeks out there, please read, review, and definitely enjoy (and please, PLEASE, leave reviews!)**

**Again, I do not own Glee. If I did, Brody would have stayed the Hell away from Rachel throughout season 4 and the Finchel breakup in season 4 would have never happened.**

**Chapter 7:**

**A Chance at Salvation**

Rachel was hyperventilating as she stared at her enraged roommate. As she stood there in terror, she went through her memory of the last few minutes she'd spent relaxing in her arm chair and talking to Finn on the phone. As far as she could tell, she hadn't noticed any sign of Brody returning. She hadn't even heard his footsteps coming up towards her from behind. Seconds later, Rachel stared back into Brody's icy rage-filled eyes, and tried as hard as she could to take deep breaths and calm herself down.

Unfortunately, before Rachel could even calm down by a fraction, Brody roared, "I said, who were you talking to!?"

Terrified once more, Rachel nervously stuttered, "I was just talking to my director. We were discussing my schedule between Wicked and the next show I could audition for . . ."

Brody interrupted, "Don't you lie to me woman! I know who you were talking to! You were talking to Finn weren't you?"

Rachel gulped, debated on telling the truth, but then realized that it would be no use trying to convince Brody otherwise when he already appeared to know the truth, and she slowly nodded her head in the affirmative.

Brody snarled, and Rachel could tell that she had struck a nerve. With an inarticulate howl of rage, Brody stomped his foot heavily down on the floor. Brody snapped his head back up to look at Rachel once more and shouted, "Is he really that important to you!? More important than old college sweet hearts!?"

Rachel shouted back, "We have nothing romantic between us! You yourself made it clear that you were only going to be my roommate as a good old friend! Do you have any idea how you're making my life in my own home outside Broadway a living Hell right now?"

In a flash, Brody grabbed Rachel by the lapel of her coat and forcefully slammed her up against the counter; his furious face inches away from her own terrified face. As Brody breathed heavily in her face, Rachel smelled the alcohol on his breath, and knew that he was beyond listening to reason at this point. Brody roared in rage, "You made my life a living Hell! Don't you remember what you promised me when I first became your roommate?"

At the sound of this, Rachel's heart sank even further in despair, for she remembered that day all too well.

. . . . .

(Flashback)

Rachel entered her apartment, a smile on her face as she remembered her astounding performance as Belle in the performance of Beauty and the Beast that had taken place that day. She smiled even further at how her lead partner, Sam Evans, had done an equally good job. Sam had chosen to practice for his eventually becoming a movie star by playing in roles on Broadway, and in his audition for Beauty and the Beast, he had made such a convincing dramatic monologue as the Disney version of the beast that the Broadway producers had handed that very role to him in a heartbeat. Now, with his new fame as a Broadway actor, and the money that was now being given to him as payment for his services to Broadway, Sam now had all he needed to step up the ladder and become a movie star. Now that she thought about, Rachel certainly had to admit that she was certainly doing pretty good in her life as a Broadway actress at age 27.

Still smiling, Rachel placed her bags down on the floor and walked over to the kitchen to prepare some tea and get ready to order a veggie lovers pizza for lunch. Immediately after beginning the process of boiling her tea, she brought out her phone and was about to call Kurt to see if he could come over later to talk with her about his latest designs when she heard a knock on the door.

Rachel looked up from her cell phone, confused. Who could be visiting her at this hour? She knew that Kurt was still at Vogue in a conference with some of the lead fashion designers and that he wouldn't be back at the apartment until 3:00 that afternoon. Also, she had a pretty good feeling that none of her other friends from the glee club had come for a surprise visit, particularly since she knew that they would already be busy with their own plans. Curious as to whom her unexpected guest was, Rachel walked over to the door and opened it up.

When Rachel opened the door and saw the person who was standing right at the door, she gasped silently. It was her old college sweet heart, Brody Weston. As Rachel stared in shock at Brody, he smiled the charismatic smile that she remembered from when she had been dating him, rubbed his fingers through his dark hair, showing off the muscles in his right arm while doing so, and stared happily at her with his sky blue eyes.

Eventually, Brody lowered his hand from his hair and said, "Good afternoon Rachel. Need I say that you were amazing earlier?"

Rachel finally managed to speak, saying, "What are you doing here?!"

Brody chuckled, and said, "Just thought I'd drop by and say hello, or should I say, bon soire?"

Rachel responded, "But . . . how did you even know where I live?"

"I followed you home from the theater. Besides, I had a feeling you'd still be living somewhere in this area."

"Well ok than, but on that note, why did you come here?"

Brody smiled once more, and he replied, "Don't worry, I'm not here to try to win you back as my girlfriend. That ship has sailed."

Rachel sighed in relief, and then felt guilty for doing so directly in front of Brody.

Brody chuckled and said, "Oh it's ok. I understand perfectly. In fact, I'm here for something else."

"Let's hear it then," Rachel said folding her arms across her chest.

"Well, I've heard about you quite a lot in the news and I can definitely say that I always knew you'd end up the way you are now." Rachel smiled at the compliment, but said nothing as she had a feeling that Brody wasn't finished.

Sure enough, Brody continued, "Well, on that note, I've been watching you perform for the last few musicals you've been cast in, and having done so, I'm now thinking, perhaps it's time I started trying to pursue my own career in Broadway."

Rachel's eyebrows rose as she heard this, for she'd expected that Brody would try to pursue a Broadway career himself sooner or later, and was surprised indeed that he hadn't already done so before now. Pleased with the news, she said, "Well I'm very happy for you and am honored that you were in the audience for my last few performances, but what does this have to do with me helping you?"

Brody smiled, and responded, "Well getting started on a career in Broadway often takes time, and I had a feeling that I might not exactly be able to handle the process the way I'm currently living. Also, I have a pretty good feeling that you probably might feel rather lonely at times living in this apartment room all by yourself, especially since Kurt and your other friends can't visit you all the time. Therefore, I thought that since we are old friends, we could do each other a little favor in that regard."

Rachel thought to herself, saw that Brody's proposal sounded reasonable, and replied, "Hmm, well what might that favor be?"

"Well, my current idea on that regard is that I could perhaps live with you as your roommate while I get my career on track. I mean, as far as I can think of at the moment, I'm pretty sure it will be ok since we'll just be living together as good friends doing each other a favor; you providing me with a place to live while I get my career on track while I provide you with someone to keep you company whenever your other friends aren't here visiting. Also, I'm thinking that once my career is going smoothly like yours, I will have all that I need to move on and find a permanent residence of my own. And like I said, we're just good friends. All in all, I believe this is what one would call a win-win situation. What do you say?"

Rachel thought hard to herself, and realized that the idea certainly held quite a bit of appeal for her. After all, she certainly knew that she wouldn't mind having a roommate to keep her company when Kurt and her other friends were unable to do so. Besides, as Brody had made clear, she didn't have to worry about him in regard to romantic matters since they would just be living together as two old friends doing each other a favor. In that instant, she stepped aside, gesturing for Brody to enter, and said, "Well in that case, welcome to your new temporary home Mr. Weston."

Brody chuckled, and walked in. Immediately after entering, Brody looked around the room in awe. Rachel smiled as she saw the awestruck look on Brody's face, and asked, "Looks marvelous doesn't it?"

Brody managed to stammer, "This . . . this is incredible! It's like a palace in here!"

Rachel chuckled, and replied, "Oh believe me, there are far more spectacular places in other areas of the world. Still, I guess I could call it our little New York Palace."

Brody nodded in agreement, and said, "That we can," before noticing the tea on the stove and saying, "Your tea's ready."

Rachel immediately rushed over to the stove and turned it off just in time. She sniffed her tea, and sighed in content as she noticed that her tea was perfectly boiled and ready. Brody smiled, and pulled a can of Diet Pepsi from his backpack. Immediately afterward, he opened up the can and raised it up towards Rachel. Rachel, who had now guessed what Brody was planning, raised her tea mug and extended it towards him. Smiling, Brody said, "A toast!"

"To friendship!" the two friends yelled at the same time as they gently clashed their drinks together. Immediately afterward, they both took a sip from their respective drinks.

As they continued drinking after their toast, Brody said, "Are you absolutely positive that you're willing to do this Rachel? I mean I could always find somewhere else to live."

Rachel shook her head and said, "Don't worry. It's fine. I'll make sure your life is happy and comfortable long enough for you to get a firmly established Broadway career like me."

"You sure?"

"Yes of course Brody. Don't you worry about a thing. You're bound to get a good career set up on Broadway. What could possibly go wrong?"

. . . . .

Thirteen years later, the 40 year old Rachel cringed inwardly as she remembered how she'd asked Brody that innocent question that day, completely unaware of how very different the answer to that question in this particular case would turn out to be from what she'd expected. For the three years that had followed immediately after that day, things had gone smoothly enough. In fact, Brody had managed to land a number of important, but not leading, roles in some plays that Rachel had been cast in. In fact, after his very convincing performance as Riff in West Side Story, Brody's future as a Broadway actor seemed very bright and promising indeed. Even Kurt, who still hadn't quite fully trusted him even then, had to admit that he certainly didn't see anything that could possibly go wrong.

Unfortunately, there had indeed been something that could go wrong. And indeed it did go wrong in the most disastrous way possible. On Brody's fourth year in living at Rachel's apartment while working to get his career on track, exactly one week before the day of cast auditions for an upcoming performance of Guys and Dolls in which he now had very high chances of making it into being cast as Nathan Detroit, he had happened to have a friendly chat with a woman who had been sitting next to him on the subway that he was taking to get back to Rachel's apartment. Through sheer bad luck, the woman had turned out to be one of Brody's former clients from when he had worked as a prostitute doing his college years. Almost immediately after the woman had realized who Brody was, she had almost immediately asked for him to repeat the experience with her all over again. Brody had stalwartly refused that time, and had done the same for the 11 requests that had followed. However, on the very last day before the auditions, the woman had made her thirteenth request for him to take her out on a date and go "all the way" with her and he'd accepted her request simply to get her to shut up. The fact that he'd given in was bad enough, but to make matters worse, he had stood her up for the date, which had been scheduled for later that night, just to make a point.

Upon realizing she'd been taken for a ride, Brody's former client had been justifiably angry and feeling slighted. Unfortunately, she had also known the perfect way to get revenge. The very next morning after the incident, right before Brody even made it to the Broadway theater for his audition, the woman had beaten him to the theater and told the Broadway producers about how Brody had once been a prostitute during his college years, the one piece of information that Brody had chosen to keep a secret.

After that had happened, it was all over for Brody. Upon learning about Brody's secret, the Broadway producers had taken advantage of every opportunity provided for them to hold it against him through their casting. As a result of his former prostitution career, he was never cast leading, or even important, roles anymore. At best, he was given a minor role; whereas at worst, he was given little more than a position on the chorus line.

With his dreams dashed beyond repair, Brody had been beyond furious and had needed someone to blame; and so he had started blaming Rachel for not helping him solve his problem with his former client. By the time of his seventh year living with Rachel, Brody had quit Broadway altogether, and had resorted to alcoholism in an attempt to ease the pain. Unfortunately, even when drunk, his pain remained as sharp as ever, and his bitterness and fury towards Rachel had burned as strongly as ever. In fact, when he was drunk, his fits of rage against Rachel became even more dangerous than when he was sober. In fact, due to how hazardous to her health living with Brody had become, Rachel now spent far more time practically living in Kurt's apartment then she did in her own apartment when outside of Broadway, for Kurt's apartment was the only place she felt safe in now outside of Broadway. The only reason she'd even bothered to come to her own apartment that night was because Brody had been at the Coyote Ugly Bar while Rachel was performing and she hadn't expected him to return from there so relatively early.

Rachel was abruptly jolted back out of her reverie when Brody shouted, "You promised that you would help me! Look what you've done now! I had an entire career just like yours ahead of me, and it all went down the drain because you abandoned me in my situation with my former client! You left me alone to deal with it by myself at a time I needed you the most! You broke your deal and made my life a living Hell! For that, I will do the same for yours again and again for the rest of your miserable life!" The instant Brody finished shouting this, he punched Rachel in the face without warning.

Rachel fell to the floor, stunned and in pain from the blow. Her eyes managed to clear up from the reflex tears just in time for her to see Brody lift his right foot and swiftly lower it down towards her. She quickly rolled herself out of the way, and Brody's foot slammed down harmlessly on the floor. Scrambling wildly, Rachel got up on her feet, dashed over to the armchair and scooped up her handbag before dashing out the door, just barely evading Brody's furious blows the entire time.

As Rachel ran as fast as she could through the hallway towards where she knew she'd find the elevator, she heard Brody's furious voice roar, "Go ahead and run you cowardly snake! You can't hide from me behind your faggy best friend Hummel forever! Some day or other, you will come back here, and I will finish this! You will pay! You will suffer! You will die!"

Rachel could feel Brody's scathing words cut into her like a flaming sword. Nearly in tears, she hurriedly rammed her finger on the up button on the elevator repeatedly as soon as she reached the elevator. When the elevator opened, she dove in and rammed her fist on the button for the floor directly above her own apartment room's floor. When the doors finally closed, she leaned back on the back wall of the elevator, panting in relief as she basked in the feeling of security provided by being safe inside the elevator. When the elevator opened up, Rachel dashed out into the hallway, her hands already fumbling for the spare key card to Kurt's apartment that she kept in her pocket with her phone. Now was a time she truly needed Kurt more than ever.

. . . . .

Kurt Hummel smiled as he gazed at his ringing cell-phone. Of all the people who could have been calling him now, his step brother Finn Hudson was certainly a welcome surprise. Still smiling, his glassy blue eyes agleam, Kurt answered the phone and put it up to his ear. "Hello," Kurt said happily.

"Hey there bro! Nice to talk to you!" Finn's excited voice exclaimed on the other end of the line.

Kurt grinned, and said, "Nice to talk to you to Finn. How is everything?"

"Well, I can definitely say that life as a teacher is as enjoyable for me as always. Speaking of careers, how's Vogue treating you?"

"Busy as usual. At the rate we're currently going with all these requests we're receiving and projects we're working on, I probably won't be able to take a break for Broadway for at least a few months."

As Kurt said this, he smiled as he remembered the numerous designs he'd made in the last two months in his work at Vogue. Ever since he'd risen up to replace Isabelle Wright after his former boss had retired, he couldn't have been happier. What made him happier still, was how every once and a while, he'd have a break from and perform in a Broadway show. As he had the thought, he sighed as he thought of how much he would have loved to play in the role of Oz in the recent performances of Wicked. "Oh well," he thought to himself. "There's always next time."

Remembering that he was talking to Finn, Kurt eventually said, "Well never mind about all that. Is there anything else you wanted to talk to me about? Knowing you, I have a pretty good feeling that you didn't call me right now just so we could discuss our jobs."

"You are correct. There is something else I'd like to talk to you about."

"Go on."

"Well, I've decided that in a few months or so, we could all hang out together at Lima for a New Directions reunion, and I do mean all of us."

At the sound of this, Kurt's eyes widened. He had not expected this kind of idea. However, as he digested the thought of a reunion among the New Directions alumni, he found that he actually found the idea quite enjoyable. Smiling, he replied, "Well that's a wonderful idea, and on that regard, I'm happy to accept your invitation."

"Thanks Kurt. Boy I'm happy you accepted; especially since Rachel's already agreed to come, not to mention help me out in getting the invitations to everyone else."

Kurt's eyebrows rose at this, for he didn't fully understand what Finn meant by the last bit. "And how would she be helping you set things up for this reunion?"

"Well, apart from you and Rachel, I don't really have a strong phone-based relationship with the rest of our friends from the glee club, and I had a feeling that you and Rachel would have an easier time in finding out where they live so that I would know their mail addresses and be able to send their invitations in the mail. In fact, I was hoping you'd help Rachel out since she's already agreed to it."

Kurt nodded, for now that he'd heard Finn explain it, he found that the idea certainly made sense. "Very well then, I'll make sure that I get to work on this task as soon as possible. But first I'll need to talk to Rachel about it so we can discuss when to get started and who we should look for first."

"Sounds good. In fact, Rachel told me that she'd drop by and see you later tonight after you had a chance for me to call you and invite you to the reunion. She should probably be on her way right now."

Kurt smiled, and responded, "That certainly does sound like Rachel. Very well, we'll make sure to contact you as soon as we've figured out the mail addresses for any of our other friends from the New Directions. Sound good?"

"Sounds good Kurt, thanks."

"You're welcome. Talk to you later."

"Goodbye Kurt."

Kurt smiled, and hung up his cell phone. Upon doing so, he slumped down onto his couch, smiling as he thought of how much fun it would be to hang out with all his old friends from the glee club after so many years. His smile widened as he thought of how much he was now looking forward to hanging out with Finn, Rachel, Artie, Mercedes, Tina, and all the others.

That is, almost all the others, for now Kurt found himself thinking about Blaine. He sighed as he thought once again about his ex-boyfriend who had gone so far as to propose marriage to him directly after regionals that fateful year after graduating while Blaine had still been a senior at McKinley High. He remembered how shocked he'd been, how he'd furiously racked his mind trying to decide what to do, and how he'd eventually said right in front of Blaine and everyone else in the room at the time that he wasn't yet sure about what he wanted, but that when the time was right, he would have a definitive answer. He knew that he'd been telling the truth then, for while he knew a part of him still loved Blaine and very much wanted to marry him someday, the other part of him was still confused about his feelings for Adam Crawford, his college sweetheart. In fact, ever since Blaine's proposal, Kurt's relationship with Adam had become increasingly strained. Now, he wasn't really sure what he would do, and he didn't know if he was truly willing to face up to Blaine later this year with all of their other friends in the New Directions with them for a reunion.

Sighing, Kurt said to himself, "What am I going to do?"

However, Kurt would soon find that his newly reawakened situation regarding his relationship with Blaine was the least of his problems at the moment after he heard a knock on his apartment door. At the sound of the knocking, Kurt allowed a small smile to come on his face, for he had an almost instinctive feeling that he would find Rachel at the door. Still smiling, Kurt walked over to the door to his apartment and opened it up without hesitation. Kurt's smile widened afterward, for Rachel was indeed standing right there at the door, all dressed up in the beautiful white cotton winter coat he'd made specifically for her, and clutching her large red leather handbag.

However, when Kurt saw the look on Rachel's face, his smile faded. Rachel looked haggard and weak, as if she'd gone through a very harrowing ordeal, and her eyes had a look of pain and relief in them. Kurt's face took on a look full of concern and slight fear when he saw how his best friend appeared to be, for he could think of only one reason why Rachel would have such a look on her face.

Sighing, Kurt said, "Hello Rachel. Let me guess, that cowardly monster you have for a roommate just did it again."

Rachel nodded, nearly in tears.

Kurt, his suspicions confirmed, stepped aside to let Rachel in. The instant Rachel entered he closed the door and hooked up the latch chain for double security. Kurt turned away from his door just in time to see Rachel sit down on the couch that he himself had been sitting on before and break down.

Kurt immediately rushed over to Rachel upon seeing her begin to cry, and impulsively hugged her. Sobbing, Rachel hugged Kurt back, tears pouring from her eyes like waterfalls. "It's ok Rachel, everything's going to be fine," Kurt said repeatedly as Rachel continued to weep uncontrollably.

After what seemed to Kurt like an eternity, Rachel finally managed to subside in her crying, and she wiped her eyes, sniffling as she did so. After giving Rachel a minute to take a deep breath, Kurt asked, "What happened this time?"

Rachel sniffed, and said, "Brody returned from the Coyote Ugly Bar earlier than he'd said he would, and he caught me in the midst of my conversation with Finn from when he was talking to me about the New Directions reunion he was planning. He knew who I was talking to, and he was drunk. I barely got out with my life, and he still intends to finish what he started tonight as soon as I come back to my apartment next time." Upon finishing her explanation, Rachel started crying again. Kurt nodded, and patted Rachel on the head, for he knew that it had to feel like a living nightmare for Rachel considering what she was going through. Besides, he certainly understood how Rachel's talking to Finn about the reunion might have angered Brody even further when he was already in a drunken rage.

When Rachel stopped crying once again, Kurt seated himself right next to Rachel and said, "Rachel, you've got to do something about this."

Rachel replied, "I don't know Kurt. I'm not sure if I can do anything about this to Brody. He's already gone through enough."

"Rachel, I don't care. Ok I admit, I understand that he's angry about what happened to him regarding his Broadway dreams, and I'd feel pretty angry if I were in his shoes, but that doesn't give him the right to abuse you the way he's been doing. He's been treating you like garbage for the last ten years, and it's only been getting worse since he became an alcoholic. You're practically living with me now. Do you realize how dangerous living with Brody has become? You said so yourself, you could have been killed tonight, and he still intends to finish the job the next time he sees you in your apartment when I'm not around to protect you. You can't let this go on Rachel; it needs to stop."

Rachel opened her mouth to reply, but paused as she realized that Kurt was telling the truth. Living with Brody had now become so dangerous that she was virtually living with Kurt instead of in her own apartment, the one that she and Brody had called their little New York Palace. She sniffed as she realized that, like it or not, she needed to do something about Brody, but she didn't know what she could do without serious risk of getting severely harmed or worse. Besides, as she'd said to Kurt just now, Brody had already gone through enough. Oh what was she going to do?

She eventually managed to say, "Well ok, I guess you're right. But what am I going to do? I can't just kick him out of the apartment. He's got nowhere else to go. He'll be homeless if I make him leave the apartment."

"Rachel . . . ,"

"Kurt, please hear me out. Besides, Brody being homeless as a result of this will be the least of my problems. He nearly killed me tonight. He's bound to get even angrier if I try to stand up to him and make him leave, and he might do something worse than what he tried tonight, even if he's sober. I don't know if it would be safe for me to stand up to him like that even if you were there to help me. And even if he doesn't do anything at that kind of time, he's bound to hold a grudge and continue to go after me to try to get revenge, and you can't always be around to protect me. I'm scared Kurt. I don't know what to do."

Kurt stared, stunned as he digested what Rachel had just told him. From what he'd heard from Rachel in past experiences lately, he'd known that Rachel was in a dangerously tense relationship with Brody. However, having now heard what Rachel had just told him now, he now realized that his best friend's situation was even worse than he'd thought. As he had the thought, he realized that for Rachel, this was more than just a living nightmare, but a terrible endangerment to her life. For Rachel, this was life and death, a merciless trap between a rock and a fireplace, all in all, a living Hell on Earth.

Eventually, Kurt managed to say, "You know what Rachel, I now understand even further about what's going on. In fact, your situation with Brody isn't nearly as bad as I'd thought."

Rachel looked up with a look of shocked incredulousness on her face. "It isn't?"

"Nope, as a matter of fact it's worse! And now I know just the thing we need to do to get you out of this situation."

At the sound of the last bit, Rachel's eyes widened even further in surprise. A bonfire of hope was beginning to build inside her as she fully realized what Kurt had just said. "You mean?"

"You've got that right Rachel, you are going to escape from that bloodthirsty psychopath, and I am going to help you. In fact, I know the perfect way to get started."

As soon as Kurt said this, he got up from the couch and walked resolutely over to the kitchen. Upon entry, he walked over to his desk, where his laptop just happened to still be lying around on, sat down, and opened up his laptop before turning it on. Rachel followed, the light slowly coming back into her eyes as she saw what Kurt was doing. "Are you doing what I think you're doing?" Rachel asked innocently with a hint of her familiar confidence.

Kurt smiled, and replied, "You bet I am. We are going to go join Finn in Lima for the New Directions reunion, and we are going to help him make sure that everyone else is there to enjoy it with us, starting right now."

Kurt's laptop finished booting up the instant Kurt finished talking, and he quickly logged in before opening up his email account on yahoo. Immediately after he opened up his contacts page on , Kurt looked over at Rachel and eagerly asked, "Well, whose address should we inform Finn of first?"

Rachel raised her eyebrows and said, "Are you absolutely sure you're willing to do this Kurt? I mean, you do realize that you will likely have to face up to Blaine and give a definitive answer to his proposal if we follow through with this right?"

Kurt sighed as he was reminded of the unpalatable situation he was now in regarding Blaine, but then made up his mind and said, "I may not like this situation I'm in with Blaine, but your situation with Brody is far worse. I am not going to let it continue, and I am going to help you out of it, and so are all of our friends in the New Directions, Blaine included. Now who do you want me to look up the address of first?"

Rachel, now reassured that Kurt was willing to do whatever it took to help her, thought to herself about who she wanted to help Finn hunt for the address of first. Eventually, with her old confident smile on her face, she said without hesitation, "Mercedes. She was the very first to sign up for the New Directions when it was first born. She deserves to be the first to know about this reunion after us."

Kurt grinned, for he'd been thinking the same thing, and he promptly located her name on his yahoo contact list. Immediately after he noticed her name, he remembered another important detail. "You know Rachel, while we're inviting Mercedes, we might as well go ahead and help Finn get Sam's invitation out of the way to. After all, it's only fair since they're husband and wife now." Rachel smiled as she remembered how happy Mercedes and Sam were now living together as a married couple in L.A. In fact, now that she thought about, they actually had two kids now; a son named Martin, and a daughter named Jocelyn. Oh how Rachel looked forward to hearing more about the two Evans children from the mouths of their parents themselves. Besides, it was about time she actually talked to Mercedes about how things had been going for her ever since she'd successfully gotten herself a second, and this time permanent, record deal with a much more understanding producer. In fact, now that she thought about it, she also wanted very much to talk to Sam about how his movie career was going ever since he'd successfully landed one directly after his stunning performance alongside her as the Beast in the Broadway performance of Beauty and the Beast thirteen years ago.

Her mind made up, Rachel leaned forward to help Kurt with his home mail address hunting. Before long, the two friends smiled as they gazed at the mail addresses for the Evans family. In a flash, Kurt whipped out his notepad and wrote down the Evans family's home and work addresses. Kurt's smile widened as he thought of how happy Finn would be when they sent the completed list of addresses to him. Seconds later, Kurt turned his head to Rachel and said, "Well that was easy. Who's next?"

**And there you have it! Kurt and Rachel are officially on board with the reunion, are well on the way to getting the other New Directions alumni informed about it, and are ready to do whatever it takes for Rachel to be rescued from her potentially lethal situation with Brody. I hope you enjoy this chapter. Please read and review!**

**Coming up next: Sam and Mercedes receive their invitation to the reunion. Will they go? And whose presence in the reunion could possibly put a damper on Sam's enthusiasm for the opportunity to come to Lima and hang out with all his glee club friends? Find out on the next update!**


	8. On Higher Ground

**Hey ya'll! How is everything? I hope you are looking forward to some more Glee awesomeness, because here we go! In this chapter, Sam and Mercedes receive their invitation to the reunion. How have their lives been going? Will they go to the reunion? Find out in this chapter! Now don't get me wrong; I totally dig the pairing between Sam and Penny, but I also am an ardent Samcedes fan, and for this story, that is the dominant pairing for Sam. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter! Please read, enjoy, and most importantly, review.**

**Again, I do not own Glee. All I own are Martin and Jocelyn Evans.**

**Chapter 8:**

**On Higher Ground**

Sam Evans couldn't have been happier as he strode up the walkway to his marvelous cliff-top house in Bel Air, L.A that Saturday night. He smiled, his blue-green eyes agleam and his blonde hair turning silver in the moonlight. He'd had a long, but very enjoyable day today.

It had been the premiere day of the newly released live-action Justice League movie, starring Sam himself as the Flash. Sam chuckled to himself as he remembered how truly proud he was of his performance as the literally lightning-fast superhero. His smile widened as he remembered how much he'd enjoyed working with his old friends, Artie and Puck, who had co-directed the movie together alongside the main director of Warner Bros. He sighed in content of how enthusiastically the audience had cheered when the movie had stopped playing. He already knew that the movie would become a very popular household possession. He was still smiling when he reached the door to his house.

Sam politely knocked on the door thrice. "Enter," said a familiar voice that Sam knew very well indeed. Smiling, Sam opened the door and walked into the house. His already large smile grew immense upon sight of his beloved wife, Mercedes, standing at the top of the staircase that was located not too far in front of the front door leading into the foyer, a considerable feat considering how naturally large his smiles already were due to the size of his mouth. He chuckled when he thought of this and remembered how his iconic large lips had earned him the nickname "Trouty Mouth" from Santana back in glee club.

Upon closing the door, Sam stood idly where he was with his arms outstretched as he awaited for the enthusiastic welcome home he knew he was about to receive once again from his children, Martin and Jocelyn.

Before long, he heard the kids' overjoyed voices shout, "Daddy!" and they both came barreling down the hallway leading to the kitchen. As Martin and Jocelyn enthusiastically gave him a double hug, Sam masterfully pretended to be sent sliding backwards by the impact. The performance caused his children to let out their happy laughing that he always enjoyed hearing from them. As his children laughed, he looked down adoringly at them.

Martin, Sam's nine year old son, was an African American boy who closely resembled Mercedes apart from the fact that he was much more slender. Jocelyn, the couple's seven year old daughter, was practically a female spitting image of her father, from her fair skin, to her blue-green eyes, all the way up to her golden blonde hair.

Sam chuckled as Martin and Jocelyn continued hugging him before they finally let go. Martin, eager to hear about how well his father's day had gone at the premiere, shouted out, "Tell us about the premiere dad! How was it?"

"It was awesome son! You're going to love it when you watch it on DVD!"

"Hip, hip, hooray!" Jocelyn squealed in joy.

"You got that right Jocelyn," Mercedes said as she made her way down the stairs.

When Mercedes made it to the bottom of the stairs, Sam smiled at his wife, for she looked as wonderful as ever with her coffee-colored skin, ebony hair, and brownish black eyes.

Mercedes gave her husband a charismatic smile before turning her head back to her son and daughter.

"Alright kids, your father's home, so now it's time for bed. But don't you worry. I'm sure daddy will still have plenty to talk to you about tomorrow regarding his newest movie!"

"Yay!" Martin and Jocelyn howled in delight before they turned away and stampeded up the stairs, both of them shouting vehemently, yet playfully, about who would make it to his or her respective bed room first.

Immediately after the two children reached the top of the stairs, Mercedes yelled, "Hello! Haven't you forgotten something!" before putting her hand up to her ear.

"Good night mom! Good night dad!" the two children screamed before they both reached their bedrooms at the same time and enthusiastically slammed the doors closed behind them.

Sam chuckled as he watched the scene, and Mercedes grinned sidelong at him. Seconds later, both parents let out a sigh of relief. Now that Martin and Jocelyn were going to bed, they now had plenty of quality time to discuss what had happened for them regarding their work today before going to bed themselves. Sam was especially looking forward to tonight's session, for he now had a considerable amount of time between this day and the next time he was aware of in which he would be called to audition for a new movie, and he was eager to get his break started in style with his wife.

Mercedes and Sam walked over to the kitchen and sat down at the table. As the married couple sat down together at the table, Mercedes grinned at Sam and asked, "So, how was the movie?"

Sam grinned, and replied, "Like I said, it was incredible. It made all that hard work I put my back into for the last few months all the more worthwhile. I just loved talking with all the fans that came up to me at the premiere, not to mention being allowed to watch the movie privately with the rest of the cast and crew. How was your day?"

Mercedes smiled, and responded, "Unless you count having to deal with the kids shouting constantly, "That's daddy!" after seeing you on the news today and being so loud that I could barely hear myself think all day as excitement, it was not nearly as exciting as yours was. Still, I'm definitely enjoying the break I'm currently having from song writing that I've now earned after my cross country tour last month."

Sam smiled when he heard this, for the way he saw it, with every successive new song and performance, his wife continued to outdo the previous one before it. In fact, his current favorites at the top of his list of favorite songs sung and written by his wife were her intriguing love song, _Black Lightning_, her debut song, _Hell to the No_, and her recent powerhouse ballad, _Crow in a Sea of Swans_. Considering how much effort she'd put in writing and performing all those wonderful songs and more lately, he believed that she'd more than earned the right for a long break. "And so have I," he thought to himself.

With a sigh, Mercedes placed her right hand on Sam's left and said, "Well, now that the kids should soon be in bed, do you think you're willing to celebrate the beginning of your long break with a romantic dance dear?"

Sam smiled, and replied, "Do you even need to ask?"

Mercedes laughed, and the couple rose up from their chairs and prepared to head over to the family room to dance.

Right as the couple was about to enter the family room, Mercedes suddenly remembered an important household task she'd forgotten to do over the course of the day taking care of the kids. "Hey Sam," Mercedes said, and Sam turned his head to look at her. "Could you go get the mail first before we have our dance tonight? I forgot to go out and get it earlier."

Sam chuckled, and chimed in, "Understandable; our kids certainly are a handful after all. Sure, I'll go get the mail. Can you wait for me in the family room and get the music ready?"

"Your wish is my command Mr. Evans," Mercedes said as she headed off the rest of the way she needed to go to get to the family room.

Sam chuckled, for he always found it funny for some odd reason when his wife said that particular phrase. Still chuckling, Sam headed back to the main foyer, opened the front door, and stepped out onto the front porch to check the mail box at the end of the walkway.

Within seconds, Sam had retrieved the mail and come straight back into the house. As he looked through the small pile of mail he now held in his hands, Sam sighed as he noticed that the mail consisted mostly of bills. Aside from a thank you note from Artie and Puck for working with them in the production of the movie, there were no casual letters. Sam sighed, for now that he thought about it, he missed the old days from back in high school when he had all his many friends from the glee club to hang out with every day. In fact, despite how he knew for a fact that he'd definitely gotten over his crush on her from that year, he especially missed Brittany. He wondered how she was doing in her current job as assistant director at the Ford manufacturing plant in New York City. He cursed himself bitterly in his mind as he thought of this, for even despite how Mercedes understood and accepted how he'd been in a romantic relationship with Brittany during his senior year since she had not been there for him all the time for a convenient lasting relationship, he still felt guilty about not staying single for Mercedes before his eventually marrying her. At the thought of his marriage, he groaned as he remembered the fake wedding he'd had with Brittany during the Christmas season that very same year the two of them had become boyfriend and girlfriend and they'd thought that the world would end in the dreaded, but quite unfulfilled, 2012 Mayan Apocalypse.

"God help me," Sam whispered to himself angrily. "I'm over that now! Why can't I stop thinking about her? Mercedes knows all about what we had and has accepted what happened between us, so why do I still feel so guilty about it?" Suddenly, before he even realized what he was doing, Sam growled loudly in his frustration.

"Is everything alright?" Mercedes asked from down in the family room.

Sam cursed mentally and said, "Everything's fine! I was just wishing that we'd received more mail from our friends today." After saying this, Sam looked at the small pile of mail in his hand, and sighed again before making his way over to the family room.

When Mercedes saw Sam gazing unhappily at the pile of mail in his hands, she asked "Are you sure everything's ok?" with her voice clearly showing her concern. Sam looked up from the mail, looked into Mercedes's eyes, and briefly considered telling her that everything was fine and comforting her with this lie. However, he then thought, "Forget it, if I can't trust my wife with this kind of thing, then I can't trust anyone," and sighed as he prepared himself.

After a deep breath, Sam said, "No. Today's mail was mostly bills, but that's not the problem. The only mail we got today apart from bills was a thank you note from Artie and Puck about working with them in the making of the Justice League movie, and I started thinking about all our other friends from the New Directions, and in particular, well . . . you know who."

At the sound of this, Mercedes understood immediately what was going on, for she'd seen her husband in this state over Brittany enough times in the past. In an attempt to comfort him, she said, "Sam, I already told you that it's ok. I understand that you were feeling alone due to my already graduating and how we had to cut off our relationship until our lives allowed it to be more conveniently capable of existing. I don't mind that you didn't stay single for me, and I'm pretty sure that I told you about how I didn't really stay single for you either in the time between my graduation and our marriage if that's any comfort to you."

Sam sighed, and responded, "I know that Mercedes. Still, from what I understand, you knew that your brief relationships with all those other guys you briefly dated her in L.A. weren't necessarily going to last forever. I didn't know that about my relationship with Brittany. After what happened at Sectionals that year, I was already unhappy enough. But also, I didn't realize how much I truly missed having you as my girlfriend until after you left to return to L.A. afterward. By the time I found myself developing a crush on Brittany, I thought that we might not have been truly meant to be. I thought that I could move on with someone else and maybe find my true soul mate in someone else, and Brittany was also feeling lonely at the time because of what had happened regarding her relationship with Santana. But when I became a movie star and met up with you here in L.A. I realized that I was wrong, and that was why I agreed for us to get back together as a romantic pair again, and also partially why I decided to marry you.

"I know that my actions were understandable and that I didn't know any better about how our standing would turn out in the future, but I thought that I truly loved Brittany to the point that I even had a fake wedding with her when I thought that the world was about to end. Even though you understand and accept it, I still feel as if I was practically taking advantage of Brittany, and I can't help but feel bad about it."

Sam raised his head and looked Mercedes in the eyes. Mercedes looked quite surprised as she gaped at Sam.

Eventually, Mercedes managed to say, "Why didn't you tell me about this sooner?"

Sam sighed, and responded, "I wanted to, but we were already at the height of our careers, and we were already going so much stronger in our relationship, and when Martin and Jocelyn were born, I felt as if everything was going perfectly for us, and I didn't want to risk giving us any reason for things to start going badly between us."

Mercedes shook her head from side to side, and then said, "Sam, ok I understand now why you were unwilling to tell me about this earlier on, but you need to tell me these things. I'm your wife. If there's anyone that is more appropriate in helping you get over troublesome personal situations like this and comforting you, it's me. Believe me, the last few years we've spent together as a married couple have been the best ever, but our relationship can't truly be happy if we don't trust each other and maintain strong honesty between each other. We need to stick together through these situations."

Mercedes grasped Sam's hands into her own and continued, "I forgive you for not telling me about this before now, but please do not withhold information like this from me again. I don't want you to have to experience situations like this on your own. I've seen the looks on your face from all the other times you've found yourself thinking about what happened between you and Brittany, and I could tell that whatever the situation was, it was killing you, and that was killing me. I want to be able to help you with these kinds of problems, and I can't do that if I'm not fully aware of what's going on. You understand?"

Sam nodded, and said, "You're right. I'm sorry. It won't happen again . . . I hope."

Mercedes sighed in relief and content. "Good," she then said before she started leading Sam back towards the kitchen. "Come on," she said, "We can dance tonight later, after we've had some tea. I know that always helps to cheer you up."

Sam smiled at the mention of having tea. He knew Mercedes was right. Having tea always helped to cheer him up, especially if it was chamomile. "Very well then, you're the boss," Sam said with a smile. Mercedes smiled back, and politely led her husband the rest of the way into the kitchen.

After Sam sat down at the table, Mercedes gazed at the small heap of envelopes that her husband was still holding, and asked, "Hey Sam, is it ok if I take a look at the mail?"

Sam smiled, and extended his hand with the mail towards his wife. "Go ahead," he said.

Smiling, Mercedes gently removed the mail from her husband's hand and started looking through it as she headed towards the pantry to get the supplies for the tea. As she did so, she certainly had to agree that their certainly wasn't very much in the mail today other than bills. As Sam had said, the only pieces of mail from today that weren't bills were the thank you note from Artie and Puck as well as a . . . Mercedes looked at the small red envelope she now saw in her hand with a frown. Sam hadn't mentioned this particular envelope.

"Sam?" Mercedes asked. Sam looked up from the table and towards his wife, curious as to what she was about to ask. Mercedes turned to look at Sam and held the mystery envelope up in front of her face so that her husband could see it clearly. "Did you see this letter?" Mercedes asked.

Sam's eyebrows furrowed as he gazed at the letter his wife had just asked about. Truth be told, he hadn't even noticed that envelope. "It must have been at the bottom of the pile," he thought to himself as he got up from his chair and walked over to join his wife. As he grasped the envelope and gently tugged it from his wife's grasp, Sam responded, "No, it appears I didn't. Who is it from?

"Someone from Lima," Mercedes responded.

Immediately after Mercedes said this, Sam noticed this fact himself by looking at the return address. His eyes widened when he noticed the name of the person who had sent the letter on the return address.

"This isn't just from someone in Lima," Sam said with a hint of surprise and excitement. He turned his head to Mercedes, his face agleam with excitement, and continued, "It's from Finn!"

"What? Seriously!?" Mercedes asked incredulously.

"Unless you know anyone else named Finn Hudson, then yes!"

"Well what are you waiting for? Open it!"

Sam, eager to see what Finn had sent this letter to them for, tore open the envelope without hesitation and whipped out the letter inside. His eyes widened at the sight of what was written in the letter. Or more accurately, typed in the letter.

Sam looked at his wife with the excited look still on his face, and he said, "Guess what! Finn's just invited us to come to Lima for a New Directions reunion!"

"A what?!"

"You heard me! A New Directions reunion!"

In a flash, Mercedes looked over her husband's shoulder and read the invitation. Sure enough, their old friend, Finn Hudson, had indeed invited the two of them to come to Lima to hang out with him for a New Directions reunion.

"Wow!" Mercedes shouted as she thought about what was happening.

"I know right?" Sam asked excitedly before he then said, "That's it, we are definitely going to take part in this!"

Mercedes was about to chime in agreement when she abruptly thought of Martin and Jocelyn. As far as she knew, Finn was unaware of them, and she wasn't even sure if they had truly been invited to come with their parents. With this on her mind, she said, "Well I definitely think we should come, but what about the kids? They still have school at this time."

Sam replied almost instantly, "That's not gonna be a problem! They can stay in New York with my siblings!"

As soon as Mercedes heard this, she decided that it would be a perfect idea. After all, Sam's younger siblings, Stevie and Stacy, also married, lived together with their families in a luxurious apartment in New York City that she and Sam had helped provide for them with their own money. Martin and Jocelyn would definitely enjoy staying with their aunt and uncle; they'd certainly enjoyed their visits to Bel Air in the past.

Then Mercedes remembered what she'd talked about with her husband mere minutes earlier, and she asked, "What about Brittany? Are you sure you're ready to be in the same area as her?"

Sam's smile faded slightly when his wife reminded him about his situation regarding Brittany. Then he remembered how much fun it would be for him and Mercedes to hang out with Finn, Rachel, Kurt, Artie, Mike, Quinn, and all their other friends from the glee club, and his smile returned. "Screw that! Now's as good a time as any to get over that situation, and what better way to do that, then with you and all our other friends together to help out and hang out with?"

Mercedes smiled, happy to see how her husband was willing to face down his guilt and uncertainty over Brittany for the good of hanging out in Lima with Finn and all their other friends from the glee club. Still smiling, she said, "Well in that case, why don't we celebrate with a dance, and then start getting everything ready tomorrow?"

Sam smiled, and said, "Sounds like a plan!" before turning his head back to the pantry. Still smiling, he continued, "But first, there's tea."

**And just like that, Sam and Mercedes have accepted! I hope you like! Coming up next: Artie receives his own invitation to the reunion. What will he have to say about the idea? And just how has his life been going in regard to his work and, cough, cough, sexual activity? Find out on the next update! Please read and review!**


	9. Reels on Wheels

**Hey there Gleeks! I hope you're ready for some more gleeful awesomeness, because here's yet another chapter of my story! Admittedly, this is definitely not one of the chapters that I'm the most proud of. I don't know why, but I just feel as if I could have done better with this one :/. Oh well, I'll let you read, hopefully review, and decide for yourselves how good or bad of a quality it is. On a happier note, I hope you all enjoy tonight's episode! Whether it be an alternate reality, or a fill-in-the-blank of what happened between Glee, Actually and Sadie Hawkins last season, I have a feeling it's going to be quite intriguing to watch! :)**

**Back to my story. In this chapter, Artie receives his invitation to Lima for the New Directions reunion. Will he join his friends in Lima? Or will his job hold him back? And who's been working with him? Or more accurately, who's involved with him in both a professional and a, how shall I put this, not quite so professional, basis? Read on, and find out! :) (And please review)**

**Just to remind you all, I most certainly do not own Glee.**

**Chapter 9:**

**Reels on Wheels**

Arthur Abrams smiled confidently as he calmly wheeled his way through the hallway on the third and top floor of his mansion, which was located two miles or so away from his very own movie studio, Reels on Wheels. As he made his way to the elevator, he thought proudly about how well received the Justice League movie had been received by the audience at the premiere. As one of the main directors who had worked on the project, Artie couldn't have been happier when he saw how all the hard work that he and his fellow directors, as well as the cast and crew, had put into the production of this expensive movie had turned out to be worthwhile.

Artie's smile widened, and he rubbed his left hand through his chestnut brown hair, his blue eyes agleam as he thought of how proud Puck would be when he told him the good news. Noah Puckerman, commonly known as Puck to everyone who knew him well, had been instrumental in the valuable assistance he'd given to Artie in helping write the screenplay. Unfairly, Puck had been called away by his pool cleaning business the day before the movie premiere was due to take place, and had been unable to be there to see the results of his efforts. Artie sighed to himself. "Well, at least he was there in spirit. Besides, I'll definitely have to send him a copy of the DVD," Artie said to himself.

Happy again, Artie wheeled himself the rest of the way to the elevator and summoned it with a push of the down arrow button. The elevator doors opened almost instantaneously, and Artie happily wheeled his way in, turning himself around afterward as the doors were closing so that he'd be ready to exit the elevator when it arrived back down on the first floor, which he immediately pressed the button for.

As the elevator descended with Artie inside, Artie chuckled as he thought of how happy his life had turned out for him. He remembered how proud he'd been when he'd graduated from McKinley High and seen the happy smile on his mother's face as she cheered him on. He remembered the euphoria he'd felt when he'd entered the film school in New York that he'd been accepted into for the very first time as a student. But most of all, he remembered the intense pride he'd felt every time he'd heard of how much the audience had loved all the fantastic movies he'd made in the past before the Justice League. As far as he could tell, he still had yet to make a movie that would be renowned for being a "stinker."

When the elevator doors opened up to the first floor, Artie wheeled straight out with a smile on his face. He had to admit that he certainly enjoyed working as CEO of his own movie studio. In fact, he was especially proud of the name, which he'd come up with himself. As he had the thought, he remembered once again how the name, Reels on Wheels, couldn't have been a more appropriate name for his studio. After all, the process of making movies involved the use of reels, and he himself was in a wheelchair. In fact, the logo of the studio was a car that had a long stream of camera film snaking its way in and out of the car in all directions in the shape of a seemingly tangled up mass of rope.

As he wheeled his way through the main hallway on the first floor of his mansion, Artie eventually heard a voice call, "Good day Mr. Abrams, I assume everything's going well?"

At the sound of the voice behind him, Artie's smile widened, and he turned around to face the person behind him. As he'd expected, it was his secretary, Betty Pillsbury, come to visit. He smiled at the sight of her, for he still remembered how much fun he'd had with her when they'd hooked up at the failed first attempt at the wedding between his old teacher, Mr. Schuester, and guidance counselor, Mrs. Pillsbury, who was Betty's aunt. In fact, that event from long ago had influenced his decision to hire her as his secretary.

Another reason that he'd chosen to hire her was how proud of her he was about how very similar to him she was. Betty, like Artie himself, was wheelchair bound. However, like Artie, she had never let the fact that she had this disability hold her down. Admittedly, she hadn't had as many supportive friends to help her along the way through high school like he had, but that certainly didn't make him any less proud of her for not letting her disability hold her back from her dreams. Artie smiled again, for even at age 39 like he was, Betty still looked as pretty as ever with her blonde hair and blue eyes. Even as he had the thought, he suddenly remembered once again how she also reminded him of one of his other high school love interests, Sugar Motta. As he had the thought, Artie sighed mentally as he thought about how well Sugar was doing as the new CEO of her dad's piano company.

Now that he thought about it, Sugar wasn't the only friend of his from the New Directions glee club during his high school years that he had to admit was doing wonderfully in her life just like he was. Two particularly big examples of other friends who were living great lives these days were Sam and Puck. In fact, he also had to admit that Sam's wife, Mercedes, was doing pretty good considering how she had only started becoming a successful record deal singer on her second try with a record deal. Plus, from what he'd often heard in the news, all his other friends outside Los Angeles were likewise successful in their jobs. Even his old rival for Sugar's affections, Rory Flanagan, was living a life full of reason for ecstasy as a popular singer back in Ireland.

Betty noticed Artie's face suddenly become wistful, and she asked, "Is something wrong?"

Artie gave a Betty a weak smile, and replied, "It's ok. I'm just thinking about my friends, that's all."

At the sound of that, Betty immediately knew what was going on. Artie had told her enough about all his times in high school with his numerous friends in the New Directions glee club to know that he was now thinking about them all once again. As she had the thought, she chuckled in spite of herself as she remembered how Artie had told her about his rather interesting love life.

During his freshman year, Artie's very first girlfriend had been Tina Cohen Chang, who later ended up leaving him for Michael Chang, whom she would later marry. His second girlfriend had been Brittany Pearce, with whom he'd had a strong relationship during his sophomore year until Brittany's rising feelings for Santana Lopez combined with an accidental act of cruelty committed by Artie in calling her an idiot had struck a wedge between it. Later, during his junior year, he'd had a brief affair with the Down-syndrome afflicted cheerleader Becky Jackson before later on attempting to pursue a romantic interest in Sugar Motta. Unfortunately, both attempts at courtship had failed. Becky Jackson had turned out to be too intimidating for Artie to handle after she'd sent him a porn photo of herself to him on his phone, whereas Sugar had later ended up choosing the Irish foreign exchange student Rory Flanagan over him.

On the brighter side, with Rory's subsequent deportation after Artie's junior year, Artie and Sugar had immediately set off on a strong relationship. However, Artie had found himself and his relationship status going into disarray as he found himself attracted to Betty Pillsbury when he'd met her at Mr. Schuester's first attempt at his wedding with her aunt to the point that the two had 'gone all the way' in a hotel room at the hotel where the reception had taken place. His romantic life had gone even further helter-skelter when he'd found himself feeling strangely attracted to sophomore Kitty Wilde. Betty grinned as she thought of how confusing and maddening this wild and crazy series of romantic experiences must have been for her boss at that time.

Artie noticed the grin on his secretary's face, and groaned as he himself remembered his whirlwind of relationships and sexual encounters from back in high school. In fact, now that he thought about it, his sex life had not gotten any more settled in during his college years and early on in his adult life outside of college either. Artie had never really been one during those days to settle down with just one girl. Now, at age 39, he found himself thinking, "Boy talk about crazy."

Now that he thought about it, Artie realized that even now after his wild age of bachelor years, there were still parts of him that were each attracted to a different girl. Of course, the majority of these parts, namely the ones that still had feelings for Tina, Brittany, and Kitty, were quite small and not too much a hassle to deal with in his life these days. However, there were two very large parts of his mind and self that were attracted to two particularly important girls in his lifetime; one to Sugar, and the other to Betty. Artie sighed in exasperation as he tried to shake himself out of his scatterbrained reverie. "God! Why won't my mind calm down over all this?!" he thought furiously to himself.

While all this had been happening, Betty chuckled as she watched her boss become increasingly exasperated as he once again unconsciously remembered his harebrained odyssey of romantic experiences. "Talk about being a lady's boy," she thought to herself as she watched her boss eventually start taking deep breaths in an attempt to calm himself down.

Seconds later, Betty heard footsteps behind her, and she turned herself around to see who was coming. Artie, now sufficiently calmed down, looked ahead towards the area where the footsteps were coming from, and saw a familiar blonde woman of about 37 or so years of age walking towards him and Betty with a familiar snide grin on her face, and with a red envelope in her outstretched right hand. Artie's heart sank when he saw this, for knowing Kitty Wilde, that look on her face usually meant that she was up to something.

Kitty made the last few steps needed to reach Artie and Betty, tossed the envelope over to Artie, and said, "You have a letter from Lima."

At the sound of that name, Artie's eyes widened. "Lima?" he thought to himself. "Who on Earth would send me a letter from Lima?" Immediately after he had the thought, he glanced at the return address, and his eyes widened when he saw that it had been sent by his old friend, Finn Hudson, McKinley High graduate turned American Literature teacher at Lima Senior High School. Within seconds, Artie turned and wheeled his way quickly down the hall to reach the area where he knew his first floor office was located.

"Hey!" Kitty shouted. "Where are you going?"

"Where's it look like I'm going? My office!"

"You have a meeting with the president of the film-makers' association in half an hour!"

"Well that's certainly plenty of time for me to read one letter!" Artie shouted back as he entered his office and slammed the door behind him. The last thing he wanted was for Kitty to have an opportunity to look over his shoulder and tease him about his friends like she always seemed to like doing for fun every once in a while. And his office was definitely the right place to read this letter in peace, for when closed, a person had to enter a code to unlock the door and enter, and he and Betty were the only people who knew the code.

Smiling at the security of the situation, he opened the envelope and drew out the letter inside, eager to see what Finn wanted to tell him about in this letter. After all, since Finn almost never sent mail to him, Artie had a feeling that since this letter was from Finn, there had to be something really important going on.

Artie smiled happily when he finished reading the note. It was an invitation to Lima, and for no less than a New Directions glee club reunion. Still smiling, Artie tucked the letter into his pants pocket, and wheeled his way out of his office. After all, he and Betty couldn't afford to miss their upcoming meeting with the film-makers association president.

As he made his way back down the hallway towards Kitty and Betty, Artie called out to Betty, "You got everything you need?"

"Yes."

"Good, let's go," Artie replied, for he'd already gotten prepared for the trip to the meeting back upstairs.

As the wheelchair-bound couple wheeled their way out towards Artie's car, Kitty yelled, "Hey! What did that letter say?!"

"Last time I checked, that letter was for me. If you're lucky, Finn will send you a similar letter and you'll find out."

Immediately afterward, he wheeled his way up into his chauffeur's car with Betty close behind. Upon buckling his seat belt, Artie told the chauffeur where he needed to go, and within seconds, they were on their way.

. . . . .

As Artie and Betty sat in the car awaiting their arrival at the studio, Betty asked, "So what was that letter all about?"

Artie grinned, and jokingly responded, "Oh nothing earthshaking, just an invitation to come to Lima for a New Directions reunion."

Betty whistled when she heard this, and she responded, "Well what are you going to do? Are you going to take part in it?"

"No. I've got more important things to do than hang out with my old friends from the glee club. Of course I'm going to go to this reunion."

Betty laughed when she heard her boss's comment. Artie chuckled back in pleasure, for he knew that Betty enjoyed his sarcastic jokes, and he was definitely looking forward to the newly risen chance he now had to hang out with all his friends from the glee club. Then he realized that Sugar and Rory might end up there as well, and his confidence faded slightly. Then he thought, "Screw it, I'm not going to let that get in the way of hanging out with all my other friends."

Then he remembered something else, he couldn't just up and leave to Lima without leaving someone behind to take care of his company while he was gone. No sooner had the thought crossed his mind, when he turned his head to Betty and said, "Hey Betty, do you think you'll be able to handle things here while I'm gone?"

Betty grinned, and said, "Are you sure there's no one else you'd prefer to be acting director?"

Artie grinned back and replied, "Do you really need to ask that? Come on, the only people here who are at more or less the same rank as me are you and Kitty, and I trust you a whole lot more than I trust Kitty."

Betty chuckled, and responded, "Well in that case, I thought you'd never ask."

Smiling, Artie thanked Betty, and turned his head back to view the road ahead of the car. "Well that's it! I'm going to Lima!"

**Looks like Artie's going to the reunion! I guess there wasn't really any doubt about that was there? Well here's to hoping he has a good time there. On that note, I apologize in advance to all Kartie fans, who will likely not necessarily be all that proud of me for this chapter. While I do like that pairing, it just won't be the endgame couple regarding Artie in this story. On that note, anyone detect possible difficult for Artie in deciding between Sugar and Bettie? And what if Rory comes into the picture? Probably a good idea to make a note of all that don't you think?**

**Coming up next: Quinn and Joe receive their invitations to the reunion. Will they follow the same path as their friends? How has Quinn's life been for her since Season 4? And what about Joe? What has he been up to lately? And just how close are they in regard to where they work? Hint, the places where they work are an awful lot closer than some might at first expect. Interested? I certainly hope so! :)**

**Well anyway, please read, review, enjoy, and most importantly review.**


	10. A Twist of Fate

**Hey there! Well, here's chapter the 10th of my Glee-ful story! I hope you enjoy! Please read, and definitely review (even if you are a guest! :)) I can definitely say that I'm looking forward to when Glee returns next year. Anyway, I hope you continue to enjoy this and other glee stories while waiting.**

**In this chapter, Quinn and Joe receive their invitations to the reunion. What will they have to say about this matter? And just how close in proximity are they in their work places? Read and find out! :)**

**Again, I do not own Glee. If I did, Joe would have never been absent, and Quoe fans would have received more closure as to what happened to the adorable pairing between Quinn and Joe.**

**Chapter 10:**

**A Twist of Fate**

Someone was staring at her. She had no idea how she knew. She could just instinctively feel that someone was staring at her. Quinn Fabray rolled her eyes, sighing to herself as she thought of how whatever lawyer man staring at her now was just wasting his time. She knew that even with her amazing skill displayed in the court room during all the cases she'd worked in, some of the lawyers in the firm she worked at still found it hard to take her seriously due to her good looks, and Quinn Fabray was definitely what many people would call a real beauty. She was on the relatively slender athletic side, had long golden blonde hair, and had light green eyes that looked brown from a distance.

Quinn sighed to herself. Even now she still remembered how she'd recently heard about how many of the junior lawyers in her firm had already placed bets on which one of them would convince her to go out with them first. She honestly wished they'd take a hint and forget about her. She didn't have time to go out on random romantic flings, and they were too young for her to have any interest in them anyway.

Eventually, she made it to her office. Relieved at having made it to her office, she entered, and closed the door behind her. She then sat down at her desk with a relaxed sigh. Admittedly, despite all the attention that the junior lawyers were showing for her here, she enjoyed working as a lawyer at this firm in Cincinnati. Her cold sense of logic and almost scholarly knowledge of law made her an ideal lawyer for any case. In fact, ever since she'd joined the firm, she had never lost a single case. She smiled as she remembered the look that had been on the face of the murderer that she'd worked in the case against when he'd been declared guilty. "Serves him right," she thought to herself, before picking up a newspaper and starting to read it.

As she read the newspaper, she thought once again about how much she enjoyed her job. She certainly hadn't graduated from Yale at the top of her class with a degree in political science for nothing. Ever since graduating, she'd gone out into the world with a high amount of confidence that she certainly hadn't expected to have earlier in high school during her teen pregnancy. She sighed at the thought of that, for even though she'd given up Beth for adoption, she still wondered how her biological daughter was doing now in the care of Shelby Corcoran, Rachel's birth mother.

Quinn sighed again as she found herself thinking about Rachel. From what she'd heard in the news, she knew that Rachel was doing a truly amazing job as a Broadway actress just like she'd dreamed, starting with her awe-inspiring performance in the reawakening of Funny Girl that Quinn herself had been in the audience to watch alongside her other friends from the glee club apart from Rachel.

In fact, now that Quinn thought about it, she realized that as far as she could tell, she and Rachel weren't the only ones from the New Directions who were doing great in their lives so far since graduating. After all, from what she'd heard from them all through conversations on the phone or through email, they were certainly having the times of their lives in their jobs as well.

As she had the thought, Quinn put down the newspaper and thought wistfully about her many times with her friends in high school. Admittedly, during her sophomore year, and maybe even her freshman year, she'd started out as a serious mean girl before softening up a while after joining the glee club. During her junior year, she'd started out as a nice girl but had started going back to her meaner side later on. Finally, during senior year, she'd started out as a serious punk, devil may care, gangster who'd been more or less the leader of a girl gang called the skanks. Fortunately for herself and her friends, she'd cleaned up and made an epic transformation for the better by the time she'd graduated and gone off to Yale.

Now that she thought about it, her personality hadn't been the only thing that had gone up and down every so often during her high school years. She'd also had an interesting series of romantic encounters during that time also. Her very first boyfriend had been Finn Hudson, and they'd ended up in a relationship twice; and both times, Finn had ended up leaving her for her rival turned friend, Rachel Berry. Her second boyfriend had been Noah Puckerman, who had impregnated her while she was still publically Finn's girlfriend, and she'd ended up in a rather unhappy relationship with him after Finn had dumped her the first time before an inexplicable break-up over the summer between their sophomore and junior years. Meanwhile, during her junior year, she'd dated Sam Evans and had thought that she was in love with him before he'd later broken up with her after he'd found out about her cheating on him with Finn.

Finn, Puck, and Sam weren't the only guys she'd dated during her young adult years either. In the summer between her junior and senior years, she'd dated a 40-year old skate boarder when she'd been in her funk over Finn's breaking up with her for Rachel a second time. Also, early on in her college years, she'd ended up in a relationship with one of her already married college professors.

Finally, she hadn't always had a romantic encounter with a guy either. On the day of her old teacher, Mr. Schuester's, first attempt at marrying Mrs. Pillsbury, she'd ended up having a drunken sexual hook up with her lesbian best friend Santana Lopez. As she had the thought, Quinn rolled her eyes and said, "God! Talk about crazy." Sure she'd been drunk when it happened, but honestly, she knew better about her sexual orientation. She was definitely straight, thank you very much. She hissed bitterly when she remembered that after the first time that night, Santana had even had the nerve to tempt her into doing it a second time that very same night while she was still drunk. Exasperated, Quinn vigorously shook her head from side to side to clear her thoughts. "Forget all this," she told herself. "I'm done with random small romantic flings. I said this to Santana at Mr. Schuester's attempted wedding on Valentine's day that year, and I'm still done with them now."

But even as Quinn said these words, she knew that parts of her were still attracted to Finn and Puck, and yes, even to Sam. In fact, from what she currently remembered, her times with Finn had been among the happiest she could remember, with Sam being second only to Finn and Puck being right at the bottom. Still, despite how unhappy her relationship with Puck had often been, the tough, yet charismatic Puck would still have a special place in her heart just like Finn and Sam did. Yet even as she had the thought, Quinn realized that she had a feeling that there was some other factor in this equation that she knew she should remember, yet didn't fully grasp. Who else had she dated in her high school years? She now had a feeling that there was someone else, but who was it? Eventually, feeling thirsty, Quinn slapped her hands on her desk. "I'll think about it later," she said to herself before getting up from her desk and leaving her office to go get some coffee.

A half hour later, Quinn felt well rested and that her thirst for coffee was satisfied. Smiling at how much of an easy going day she was having today, she was about to go back to her office when she heard a voice call out, "Ms. Fabray? You have mail."

Quinn turned her head and saw the man who worked with the mail at the law firm standing nearby holding a red envelope in his hands. Smiling still, Quinn took the letter from the man's hand and thanked him before turning away to read it while the man left to go back to the mail room.

As soon as Quinn took a look at the return address, her eyebrows rose as she noticed that the letter was from Finn Hudson. "Hmm, interesting," she thought to herself as she opened the envelope with a small knife she used as a letter opener. She had to admit that she rarely ever got mail from any of her ex-boyfriends these days, least of all Finn. Odds were, if Finn had sent her a letter, there had to be something really important going on.

Quinn calmly drew the letter out of the letter and read it silently. After finishing it, she couldn't help but smile, for it was an invitation to come to Lima for a New Directions reunion. "How sweet," she thought to herself as she digested the information. She had to admit that the idea sounded pretty appealing.

"Still," she thought to herself as she folded the letter and placed it in the pocket of her business suit, "it is pretty busy here, I'm really not sure if I should go." Almost immediately after Quinn had the thought, she then thought, "Then again, I guess it wouldn't hurt if I took an extended break. Still . . ."

Quinn was abruptly knocked out of her train of thought when she heard the mail man's voice call out a meter or so behind her, "Mr. Hart, you have mail."

At the sound of that particular name, Quinn immediately turned around to look behind her. Standing not too far ahead of her at the moment, were two men. One of them she recognized as the mail man. The other was a tall man who appeared to be about her height, had slightly tanned skin, and also long dark brown hair fashioned into dreadlocks. In his hands, the dreadlocked man held a small red envelope very similar to the one that her own letter from today had been in.

At the sight of this, Quinn's eyes widened. Could it be? The answer she was suspecting was confirmed seconds later when the man with the dreads lifted his face to thank the mail man and she caught a glimpse of his eyes. They were a beautiful golden brown hazel color, and when he smiled as he thanked the mail man, they seemed to glow a dazzling amber color. At the sight of this, Quinn knew immediately that this man was Joe Hart, her old high school friend and crush from her senior year.

Quinn gaped at Joe has he opened up the envelope he was holding and read the letter that was inside it. Within seconds, Joe smiled, and she heard him say, "Well what do you know. Finn's invited me to a glee club reunion. Well I definitely have to say that that's certainly nice of him." Quinn's heart skipped a beat when she heard his familiar, but now more adult-like voice. She'd missed hearing that voice.

Quinn just couldn't believe what was happening. Of all the people she'd known in the glee club, she had never expected to see Joe Hart today. Admittedly, she'd known that he'd graduated at the top of his class from Harvard Law school, and that he'd become a lawyer like herself, but she'd had no idea what firm he worked at, least of all that it was the same as hers.

Seconds later, Joe looked up from his letter and just happened to turn his head in the direction that Quinn was located. Quinn maintained her position just long enough for Joe to catch a brief glimpse of her before she hurriedly turned away and walked resolutely back in the direction of her office.

When she reached her office, Quinn hurriedly slammed the door behind her and stood up against it with her back to the door and her arms stretched out to her sides. Panting heavily, it took Quinn at least five minutes to calm down. She just couldn't believe it. After this many years, at age 40, she'd finally encountered Joe Hart once again. As she had the thought, she briefly felt a flare of guilt come up in her. Mere minutes before she'd first left her office for a coffee break that day, she'd been thinking about her romantic experiences in high school, yet had completely forgotten about Joe. As she thought about this, she found herself feeling even guiltier at the memory of how she'd gone into a relationship with her college professor and had sex with Santana. Yes she'd been drunk when hooking up with Santana and had not been attached romantically to Joe at the time of her brief relationship with her college professor, but she still felt guilty about it just the same.

As she had the thought, Quinn sighed, and walked back over to her desk. Sighing, she sat down at her desk with her chin resting on her hands. "What am I going to do?" Quinn asked herself. She knew that she needed to figure out where things stood between her and Joe at the moment, but it would not be easy for her to do that at work with all her other responsibilities. Besides, she wasn't really sure if she wanted to confront Joe about this possibly in front of all the other people who worked at the firm.

Suddenly, Quinn had just the right idea. She drew out her letter from Finn, reread it, and smiled. "That's it," she thought to herself. "I'm going to Lima. With luck, Joe will end up coming there to, and we can get this matter settled once and for all."

. . . . .

Joe Hart could only stand in shock as he watched the beautiful blonde woman walk away from him down the hall away from the coffee machine. He couldn't believe it. First he'd gotten a letter from Finn inviting him to come to Lima for a New Directions glee club reunion, and now he'd just seen his old high school crush, Quinn Fabray, at the same law firm he worked at. Sure he'd only caught a brief glimpse of her before she'd turned and walked away, but he'd seen enough of how she looked to instantly recognize her. He would have recognized those dazzling green-brown eyes anywhere. He smiled as he had the thought. "God is sure letting me have a lot of luck today," he thought to himself as he unconsciously ran his fingers through his dread locks, each one named after one of the books in the bible.

As he had the thought, Joe remembered how happy he'd been when he'd watched Quinn and her fellow seniors that year excluding Brittany walk up on the stage and receive her diploma, and how they'd given each other a tender hug in the hallway completely in tears. And the way he saw it, they'd had every right to cry over how they were about to separate from each other for a while. After all, Quinn had been one of Joe's first friends after he'd gone to McKinley High School for the first time after being transferred there from being home schooled by his parents. Quinn, meanwhile, had always had him supporting her, praying for her, and even helping her out at her physical therapy sessions when she'd been stuck in a wheelchair, and if it hadn't been for him, she'd probably still be miserable in that chair today.

Joe now also remembered numerous other good experiences of him and Quinn together. Chief among them were his performance alongside her and the other God Squad members at Breadstix for Sugar's Valentine's Day party and in the McKinley High outer cafeteria area for the singing valentine to Rachel. He also remembered how he'd always accompanied Quinn to her physical therapy sessions ever since the first time he'd gone there during the Whitney Houston week in the glee club, how the two of them had shared a private dance together alongside the other glee clubbers in the choir room after prom had ended with Quinn's stunning performance of _Take My Breath Away_ that year, and how they'd tearfully said farewells to each other when he'd accompanied Quinn to the airport for when she'd left to go to Yale.

Now that Joe thought about it, he also had some pretty good memories regarding himself and Quinn from between Quinn's graduation and today. The majority of these memories regarded the numerous weekend and holiday trips to New Haven, Connecticut he'd taken to visit Quinn at Yale. Others included when she'd come back to Lima to visit Joe and her other friends that were in Lima. He smiled as he remembered the first time Quinn had come back to visit when they'd been preparing for Sectionals during his junior year, and how she'd been there to comfort him when he'd been in tears directly after the loss at Sectionals.

Unfortunately, as he had the thought, Joe remembered how he'd danced with Lauren Zizes during the Sadie Hawkins that same year, and felt guilty for doing so. He wasn't sure if he'd ever told Quinn about that, or what she'd think if he did. Sure, they hadn't been a couple then, but he still felt guilty about not choosing to stay single for that dance just for her.

With that information in mind, Joe found himself wondering just where he and Quinn stood in their relationship as he turned and walked the direction opposite the one Quinn had taken as he headed back to his office. Admittedly, they still maintained a relatively close friendship on the phone through calls and texts, but it obviously wasn't quite close enough if neither of them had known that they worked at the same law firm.

As he had the thought, Joe began to wonder about all his other friends as well. It had certainly been a long time since he'd been able to hang out with them all. Admittedly, he hadn't graduated from Harvard Law School for nothing, and he did enjoy his work as a lawyer. In fact, his own dedication to his religion made him a surprisingly effective lawyer to the point that he had never before lost a case. Still, now that he thought about it, he still felt pretty lonely once in a while without all of his friends in convenient range.

He wondered how all his other friends were doing in their lives these days. He had to admit that he enjoyed watching Mike on MTV every once in a while, as well as the movies produced by Artie's studio, Reels on Wheels. He also enjoyed listening to Rory's CDs, Mercedes's albums, and watching the movies starring Sam. He even often found himself wishing that he had more time to go to New York to see Rachel perform on Broadway or visit Finn back in Lima.

Immediately after he had the thought, Joe found himself with the perfect idea on how to settle things with Quinn and to cure himself of his current state of loneliness for his friends. "Well," he thought to himself as he made it to his office, "I guess I'm going to Lima."

Smiling, Joe opened the door to his office and entered. He was going to have to make sure that he got as much done at work as he could if he was going to have the time to take a break from it and go to Lima. Already he couldn't wait to hang out with all of his friends at Lima, especially with Quinn.

**And just like that, we have eight people at the reunion! Surprised at how Quinn and Joe work at the same law firm? I thought it was a pretty good twist! On that note, I also hope you noticed how I've chosen to reawaken the grossly neglected pairing between Quinn and Joe. I apologize immediately to all fans of Quick, Fabrevans, Quinntana (seriously, were they on helium when they came up with that idea?), Wildehart, Hartzes (or whatever people might be calling the pairing between Joe and Lauren), Harmotta (or whatever people might be calling a possible pairing between Joe and Sugar), or any other ship starring Quinn or Joe that isn't Quoe/Jinn. Honestly, while I am a fan of Quick, I have always loved Jinn/Quoe since I first heard their performance of Whitney Houston's Saving all my Love for you on the Whitney Houston tribute episode in season 3, and I've always thought ever since that Joe was a much better choice for Quinn then Puck would ever be, and I was definitely more than a little pissed that the Glee creators have just cast that pairing aside as if it never happened without at least giving fans of it a tiny bit of closure. On that note, what might Puck think if he were to find out about this development? Find out in future chapters! :)**

**Coming up next: Tina and Mike receive their own invitation to the reunion. How has life been going for them? Will they come to Lima for the reunion? I already have a feeling that I shouldn't have even asked that last question. ;)**


	11. Home is Where the Heart Is

**Hey there! Well, I hope you're all looking forward to when Glee comes back next year in February! I also hope very much that you're looking extra forward to reading the newest chapters that are being posted today! That's right! Chapters. Having now practically finished my first semester of college, I am going to celebrate here with a triple update! That's right! Three new chapters today! I hope you enjoy all three! Please read and review, especially review (even if you're a guest please!)! :) Well enough of my rambling. Here we go!**

**In this chapter, Tina and Mike receive their invitation to the reunion. What will they have to say on this matter? And how has life been treating them since Season 4? Tike fans, I can assure you right now that you'll have plenty of reason to be happy with this chapter!**

**Again, I do not own Glee.**

**Chapter 11:**

**Home is Where the Heart Is**

Michael Chang smiled to himself as he relaxed on the couch in the living room of his luxurious apartment a few miles away from the coast. He'd had a wonderful day teaching his students in the dance lessons he taught right here in L.A. Now, he could afford to relax and have some time to breathe. He was especially happy about that since that meant he got to spend time with his wife Tina and 9 year old daughter Karen.

Soon after Mike had the thought, he heard Tina call, "Mike, come into the kitchen! Dinner's ready!"

With a smile, Mike got up from the couch and headed over to the dining room where Tina and Karen were already waiting with a heaping load of fried rice and beef on the table. He licked his lips at the sight, for in his experience, no one else he knew had yet been able to cook fried rice and beef so that it was good as it was when his wife cooked it. Even the aroma smelled in a way that indicated that it had been cooked by a true master chef.

Still grinning, Mike sat down and clasped his hands together in anticipation of his eating the delicious meal. Tina smiled, and she and Karen clasped their hands together as well. All three members of the family then closed their eyes. It was time for them to say prayers before eating. For the next few minutes, the family sat in peaceful silence as they said the prayers in their minds. When they were done, they opened their eyes, unclasped their hands, and all got to work on getting their servings of the rice and beef.

Soon after they started eating, Mike said to his daughter, "So, I hear that you got accepted into the dance class at your school. How did it go today?"

Karen smiled at her father and replied, "Oh it was wonderful! I felt like I could have been dancing right on a stage in your place at Dancing with the Stars!"

Mike whistled, and responded, "Wow! You really were that good?"

Karen spread her hands out and said, "Well ok, maybe not quite that good, but I could probably make it that far later on."

Mike smiled, for he was always happy that his daughter was so humble about her own abilities and preferred not to boast despite how he, one of the most famous dancers in L.A., was her father.

Tina smiled, patted her daughter on the head, and said, "That's right. You probably will; after all, you have the blood of a true god among dancers in you." Mike smiled at the praise, for even he, as humble as he was, had to agree with how his skill practically made him a god among all the other dancers in L.A., and in many other places for that matter.

Tina turned her head to her husband and asked, "So how's the food?" Immediately after seeing her husband's smile upon hearing the question, she chuckled, and said, "Why did I even ask?"

Mike chuckled back and replied, "Delicious as always."

Tina grinned, and resumed eating her own serving of the food, happy to be spending such a large bit of time with her husband and daughter.

When the family had finished eating, Mike was the first to get up and take his dishes to the dishwasher. Tina and Karen followed suit with their own dishes. Before long, all the dishes were in the washer, ready to be cleaned. Upon seeing this, Mike promptly prepared the dishwasher for the washing process, closed the door on the full load of dishes, and then turned on the dishwasher.

With the dishwasher now on, Mike headed back over to the living room, and found Tina and Karen already there. Mike smiled, for he had a feeling that he knew what Karen was planning to do.

Sure enough, Karen was holding their Kung Fu Panda DVD. "Can I watch it dad? Please?"

Mike grinned, and asked, "Do you have any homework left?"

"Nope. I had a light load today."

"Then let's go ahead," her father replied as he sat down on the couch next to Tina.

Within seconds, Karen cued up the DVD and started playing it. As they watched, the Chang family couldn't help but smile, and even laugh as they watched the lovable panda, Po's, antics on screen in his first movie.

By the time they'd finished watching it, the Changs were all feeling happy, but tired. After turning off the TV, Tina turned to her daughter and said, "All right Karen, it's time for bed."

Karen yawned, and nodded in agreement before leaving the room to get ready for bed.

The minute their daughter left the room, Mike and Tina sighed in exhaustion. They had both had a long day. Mike had spent almost the entire day teaching an intense dance class, whereas Tina had helped perform operations on numerous pets, including a Siberian husky. Those two kinds of events were definitely enough to leave anyone tired. In fact, on the subject of pets, Tina and Mike both smiled when they heard the sound of their pet Siamese cat, Fufu, meowing innocently at their feet. Still smiling, Mike leaned forward and stroked the little cat on the head. Fufu purred in content as he felt his master's gentle stroking on his head.

Immediately after Mike finished stroking the cat, Tina beckoned for Fufu to come up on her lap and called for Fufu to come. Fufu obeyed happily, climbing up onto the couch and lying down on Tina's lap, where he fell into a deep sleep within a few minutes. Smiling, Tina stroked the sleeping cat, not caring how she knew she'd have to clean up the cat hairs that would inevitably end up on her clothes and the couch.

After about a minute, Tina stopped stroking Fufu and left the cat to continue dozing fitfully on her lap. Smiling, she turned her head to Mike and smiled as she noticed how he still looked handsome as ever. Even in the midst of her break up with Mike, her crazy infatuation with Blaine, and even the knowledge of how Mike hadn't always remained single for her, she had known in the back of her mind that she and Mike were made for each other and would be back together sometime after high school at the very earliest.

Mike in turn, smiled as he gazed at his wife. Life for him after high school hadn't always been easy, much less fun, but he'd always had his dreams of becoming a professional dancer combined with his hope for eventually getting back together with Tina to keep him going. Now, he was a successful professional dancer, was married to Tina, and even had a child of his own who was beginning to show potential in following in his footsteps. He grinned as he had the thought, for his daughter certainly had big shoes to fill.

Mike sighed, for now he wondered how all his friends from the glee club apart from Tina were doing in their lives these days. Sure, he'd heard plenty about them in the news, but that still wasn't quit the same as talking about it with them in person. Besides, he knew that his friends likely often watched him performing on MTV, but he knew that he'd definitely enjoy his performances even more if he were to see at least one of them in the audience during his performances.

Tina, meanwhile, was beginning to think more or less along the same lines as her husband. She often wished more than ever that she could talk to some of her old friends in person rather than on the phone or through email or Facebook. In particular, she knew she'd enjoy the chance to meet Blaine and Artie in person. Sure, she knew that her ship with Artie had long since sailed years ago, but she knew that he, as her first love, would always have a special place in her heart. Also, while she still felt rather guilty for her mad romantic pursuit of Blaine, a "one hundred percent, gold star gay" as he'd told her himself, she knew that he would always hold a special place in her heart as well. In fact, she still loved him in a way, but as really more of a friendly and well-respected brother, as well as all the other guys in the glee club apart from Artie and Mike. As she had the thought, she also realized that while the majority of the guys from the glee club felt like brothers to her, the girls also felt a bit like sisters to her, even her old rivals, Rachel and Santana. She smiled as she had the thought, for she had a feeling that all her old friends were having the time of their lives.

Eventually, Tina was knocked out of her sentimental reverie when she heard Mike ask, "Hey Tina, did you get the mail today?"

Upon hearing this, Tina remembered that she'd completely forgotten to do so, and she responded, "Crap, I forgot. I better go get it."

"No it's ok," Mike said putting a hand on her shoulder. "There's no need to beat yourself up over this. Besides, Fufu deserves his sleep. I'll go get it." Upon saying this, Mike got up from the couch and headed over to get the mail from their mail box outside the door to their apartment. Tina smiled, and relaxed once more. Fufu, who hadn't been the least bit jostled by Tina's preparation to get up, purred happily in what could very well have been a feline snore.

Mike reentered almost immediately after walking out the door. In his right hand was a small group of envelopes. While two of them Tina recognized as bills, she couldn't help but smile when she noticed that the other three envelopes among the mail clutched in her husband's hand were definitely not bills.

Mike smiled as well, for he knew that it was always a pleasure for him to receive mail from his friends from the glee club, which the three envelopes that weren't for bills contained. Upon sitting back down on the couch next to Tina, Mike asked, "Well dear, which letter from our friends do you want me to open up and read first?"

Tina grinned, and looked at the three envelopes in question, trying to decide which one she wanted to see first. As she examined them, she noticed that while two of them were the traditional white color that normally came with envelopes, the third and final one was a curious red color. Eventually, she decided, "How about the one from Artie?"

Mike smiled, for he knew that despite Artie's past relationship with his wife, the wheelchair-bound director of Reels on Wheels pictures was still a good friend of both himself and his wife. Still smiling, Mike opened the envelope and pulled out the letter. Upon reading it, the couple smiled, for as they'd expected, Artie had wrote in his letter about how wonderfully the Justice League movie had turned out to be and how he wished very much that the two of them could have been there to see it at the premiere. Smiling at how much Artie still cared for the two of them as his friends, they placed the letter on the small table next to the couch on the right side.

The second white envelope contained a letter from Sam. In this letter, Sam said that he'd enjoyed performing as the Flash in the Justice League movie, that he wished Tina and Mike could have been at the premiere to watch it with him, and that he hoped to someday meet Karen and introduce her to his own children, Martin and Jocelyn. Smiling, Mike set down Sam's letter right on top of Artie's letter.

With the two letters in the white envelopes out of the way, Mike and Tina took a close look at the return address on the red envelope, and their eyes opened wide when they saw that it was from Finn. At the sight of this, the couple stared each other in the eyes, the same fierce curiosity in their eyes. This was one of the first times they'd ever received a letter from Finn. Considering that, there had to be something really important going on in Lima.

Immediately after they had the thought, the couple proceeded to open the letter. Eager to see what the letter said, Mike slowly pulled out the letter, almost as if he feared that it would crumble to dust if he wasn't careful with it. Still fiercely anticipating what the letter might say, Mike gingerly unfolded the letter while Tina looked on, her eyes alight with excitement as she feverishly waited to find out what Finn had sent them a letter for.

The instant Mike finished unfolding the letter, he read the letter as carefully as he could, word for word; and smiled when he saw that it was an invitation to come to Lima for a New Directions reunion. Still smiling, Mike turned his head to Tina and stated with a completely straight face, "Oh nothing important. Just an invitation inviting us to come visit Lima with all our friends from the glee club for a New Directions reunion."

Immediately after hearing her husband say this, Tina squealed in delight and lunged at her husband before wrapping him up in an embrace. Mike smiled and hugged Tina back. After the couple ended their embrace, they both looked closely at the invitation once more. As they carefully looked over the invitation and considered what they would do, they found that the idea certainly appealed to them. Earlier that evening before getting the mail, they'd both been wondering how all their friends from the glee club were doing and wishing for a chance to see them all again in person. Now, they had been given the chance to do exactly that. Coincidentally, it had been provided for them by one of said friends. Smiling, they both came to the same decision, looked each other in the faces, and exclaimed, "We're going!"

The couple started laughing out loud as they realized that they'd both said the same phrase at the same time. When they finally finished laughing, Tina managed to say just for confirmation, "We are going to Lima right?"

Mike chuckled, and replied, "Of course we are."

"But what about Karen? Should we bring her?"

"Well, I'm not sure if this is the best time since she's still in school. But that shouldn't be a problem, I'm sure that either of our parents will be willing to drop by and take care of her while we're gone."

Immediately after Mike said this, Tina felt all her misgivings about going to Lima for the glee club reunion faded away, for she knew that both her parents and Mike's parents loved spending time with Karen, and vice versa. Odds are, either one of the two groups would accept in a heartbeat to come to L.A. to take care of Karen. Smiling, Tina said, "Very well then. In that case, we are definitely going."

Mike smiled back, and responded in agreement, "That we are."

**And there you have it! I hope you like this chapter, especially if you're a Tike fan! Please don't get me wrong, I do like Tartie/Artina, but after all that's happened over the course of what's occurred in the Glee world, I am definitely an ardent Tike fan now, and thus will have that pairing as the dominant pairing for Tina and Mike. Anyway, I again hope you enjoy this chapter, read, and review!**

**Coming up next: Brittany and Santana receive their invitation to the reunion. Will they join their friends in Lima? And just how might Santana feel about her and Brittany being in the same area as Sam? Read on, and you will hopefully find out :)**


	12. Unfinished Business

**And here's the second chapter of today's triple update! As promised, Brittany and Santana receive their invitation to the reunion. Will they go to Lima for the reunion alongside their friends, or will the history between Brittany and Sam be to much for Santana to handle? Read on and find out!**

**Chapter 12:**

**Unfinished Business**

Santana Lopez growled as she gazed at the bills. Even in her days of living in the Bushwick apartment that Kurt, Rachel, and herself had lived in during college years, she had never truly realized how expensive living in an apartment in New York City truly was. "At this rate," she said to herself "I might have to find a second job to double the income. It's ridiculous how much of our money is going into paying bills."

"Is something wrong Santana?"

At the sound of that voice, Santana felt guilty for voicing her current thoughts on the financial status. She hated giving Brittany any reason for unhappiness herself. There were plenty of reasons in the world that could be given by other people or events so that she could comfort her instead. Putting on as convincing a smile as she could, Santana turned her head to look behind her and said to Brittany, "No, everything's fine. I'm just looking through the bills, that's all."

Brittany shook her head from side to side, and responded, "Santana, I know you care about me a lot, but don't lie to me. You're worried about how the majority of our money is being used to pay bills aren't you?"

Santana opened her mouth, about to say that she in fact wasn't. Then she took one look into Brittany's inquiring blue eyes, and decided that it really would just be a waste of time to try to convince Brittany of a lie. Santana had to admit that Brittany certainly had gotten more or less a lot smarter than from back in high school. Sighing, Santana replied, "Yes Brit, I am."

Brittany smiled, happy that Santana had the decency to tell her the truth, and replied, "Don't worry. Everything's fine. Besides, from what you've told me, the amount of money circulating from being given to us and being used by us is fairly equal and even. I'm sure we'll be able to live perfectly comfortably through this stage of our lives."

Santana sighed, for she knew that life seemed just so easy to Brittany. "I know that Brittany, but I still can't help but worry. For all we know, things could get really tough for us later. We barely have enough money left after the end of each week. I'm not sure if we're all that stable when it comes to our money."

"I know, and I've already taken care of things, for at least a month or so."

Santana raised her eyebrows, her brownish black eyes dark with curiosity and suspicion. "And what may I ask did you do?" she asked.

Brittany smiled, her face alight with a smile, and replied, "I sent a text message to Rory yesterday about our financial situation, and he's already now donated $500 to us from his own bank account. That should be enough to last for a little while until we find some way to help boost our finances up a notch."

Santana couldn't help but look surprised as she digested what Brittany had just told her. "Wow, she really has become a genius since high school," she thought to herself as she gaped at the tall elegant blonde young woman in front of her. Things had definitely changed since their early days as teens.

Eventually, Santana managed to say, "Well, I guess that should keep us afloat long enough for us to find a way to boost up our savings."

Brittany chuckled, tossed her hair over her shoulders, and responded, "My thoughts exactly."

Santana sighed, shook her head side to side, and stated, "What has happened to you? I still remember the days in which you used to think that dolphins were just gay sharks. How have you managed to become such a virtual genius now?"

"I guess it comes with having dated two people, one from each gender that are absolute brainiacs compared to the way I was back then. Granted, I'm still nowhere near as smart as some of our other friends, but I'm definitely not as hopeless as some people always believed me to be back then either."

Santana chuckled when she heard this, and responded, "I guess that makes sense." Even as she said this, however, she couldn't help but feel a twinge of old jealousy over Sam. "It's over," she said to herself. "Yet why do I still feel this way about him over Brit?"

She sighed as she realized that she would probably still feel bitter and jealous over Sam's former relationship with Brittany for quite some time yet. In fact, now that she thought about it, her own relationship with Brittany wasn't as far as she'd hoped it would be by now either. As of this point, they still hadn't moved farther than merely living in the same apartment together since they'd first made up after Brittany's graduating from MIT combined with Santana becoming a true professional dancer thanks to her lessons at NYADA.

Eventually, she turned away and looked back over the bills. "Hey Brit, can you help me with these? I'd like to make sure that we both are confident that we have enough money to pay off all these."

"Sounds like a plan," Brittany said as she made her way over to where Santana was standing looking at the bills lying around on the kitchen countertop.

Within minutes, Brittany placed the last bill on the very top of the small pile that had amassed as a result of the examination. "Well that settles it. We definitely have enough money this time," she promptly stated.

"You sure about that?"

"Santana, please, I know my money. You can't be the assistant director at a car manufacturing plant without learning something about monetary matters."

"Your vocabulary has improved," Santana remarked when she heard Brittany say "monetary."

Brittany made no sign of recognizing the innocent jibe at her former slightly-below intelligence personality, and turned her head back to where the bills had been. That was when she saw a red envelope right where the bills had been covering it up.

Brittany picked it up, waved it in front of Santana and asked, "San? Did you see this?"

Santana gazed at the letter, squinted in concentration, and then said, "No."

Brittany smiled, drew out a small knife from the silverware drawer, and said, "Well in that case, what are we waiting for?"

Santana rolled her eyes at the sight of the knife and said, "I have a genuine letter opener you know."

"Too bad," Brittany said with a completely straight face as she used the ordinary kitchen knife to slice open the envelope. The letter seemed to materialize from thin air into Brittany's hand after the letter was open.

For a few minutes afterward, Brittany gazed intently at the letter, holding it right up to her face. Before long, Santana found herself awkwardly attempting to look over her friend's shoulder and read the letter as well. Unfortunately, Brittany had been lucky enough to be taller than Santana now at their current age. However, Santana was able to see the look on her friend's face as the latter read the letter. A few minutes of seeing the same happy look on her friend's face later, and Santana was beginning to get a pretty good idea what sort of information could get Brittany to smile like that over a letter.

Sure enough, Brittany looked up from the letter with the smile still on her face, and stated, "Well guess what, we've just been invited for a reunion."

"A what?" Santana asked incredulously as she whisked the letter out of her friend's hand and stared intently at it herself. Sure enough, the letter was indeed an invitation to a reunion; and not just any reunion, but a New Directions reunion of all things.

Rolling her eyes in fake derision, Santana remarked, "So; that chubby old orca whale wants to bring the pack back together huh?"

"You do realize that groups of whales are called pods, not packs, right?"

This comment earned Brittany a stern glare from Santana, who responded, "You know what I mean."

Brittany raised her hands up in an innocent placatory gesture, and turned away.

Santana sighed, and looked back over the invitation again. Truth be told, part of her really did want to go. Still, there was still that tiny little part of her that didn't want to be anywhere near Sam.

Brittany eventually turned right back to face Santana again, her hands clasped in anticipation, and asked enthusiastically, "So we're going right?"

Santana sighed, looked at Brittany, and said, "I don't know. You're call Brit."

Brittany sensed the harsh tone in her best friend's voice, and immediately responded, "You're worried about Sam aren't you?"

After a brief hesitation, Santana reluctantly replied, "Yes, I am, and I'm not sure if we really should go anywhere near him for the next few months or so."

Brittany rolled her eyes, and retorted, "Santana, come on. You've said that for the last few years. This is the first time in months since we've ever gotten the chance for all of us to hang out together in the same place like we used to. I wanna hang out with all our friends again."

"Couldn't we wait until next summer?"

"How do you even know if will have a chance to visit anyone next summer? Let alone invite them all to New York? I'm not going to blow off the chance to see our friends again just because of some petty grudge of yours Santana. I've been apart from all my friends in that club long enough, I need to see them again, and we might not have another opportunity after this one."

Santana sighed, unable to compete. Brittany had raised quite a fair point. Santana could tell how much Brittany missed all her friends from the glee club, even that meddling bozo, Sam Evans. Even when Brittany tried her best to reassure Santana with a smile, Santana could tell that her longing to see the rest of her friends again was killing her. And that, Santana had to admit, was killing her. Still, there were always those tiny nagging doubts.

Santana eventually managed to say, "Well ok, I guess I've isolated the two of us from all our friends for long enough, but do you really think it's safe relationship-wise for us to be within even a single mile from Sam?"

Brittany sighed in exasperation, and responded, "Santana please, there is nothing left between me and Sam. What we had ended years ago. Even when we were dating, there was always a tiny part in the back of my head that knew that we would never make it in the end.

"I love you Santana. I always have, and always will. But Sam is just as much a good friend of mine as any of the others. Besides, I know that you want to visit everyone else just as much as I do, albeit Sam. Don't deny it, I know you do."

Santana had indeed been about to deny what Brittany had claimed. Taken aback, Santana remained silent for a few minutes as she thought about what she could say in reply to what Brittany had said now. Truth be told, apart from Sam, Santana missed all her other friends very much. Even her old college buddies, Rachel and Kurt, rarely ever came into her life anymore. Now that she thought about it, she longed more than ever to hang out with Kurt and Rachel again. She also very much wouldn't mind taking the chance to visit Quinn and Mercedes. In fact, even though she wasn't a close friend of Finn's, she still was perfectly willing to spend some time with him for old times' sake. In fact, the only New Directions member from the old days that she didn't consider a friend any more was Sam. As she had the thought, she realized that between herself and Brittany, she was the one acting like a child these days. Brittany was right, she was really being stupid by continuing to hold onto this childish grudge against Sam. Even so, why was the appealing prospect of letting the grudge go feeling so difficult for her?

Brittany soon provided the answer that was escaping Santana by stating, "Let me guess. You're still having difficulty in forgiving Sam because you're uncertain about where we stand in our own relationship these days."

Santana opened her eyes wide, surprised at Brittany's intuitive guess. Eventually, with no other alternative answer in her mind as to why she was having such difficulty with giving up that simple little grudge, Santana nodded.

Brittany thought to herself about what Santana had confirmed. Truth be told, she herself had to agree that she was feeling quite uncertain about the current status of her and Santana's relationship. As she had the thought, she realized that perhaps maybe a little trip to Lima to hang out with their friends from the glee club was just what they both needed.

"Well, I have to admit, I definitely have a feeling that there's a sense of unfinished business between us both," Brittany eventually stated.

Santana nodded in agreement, for Brittany was definitely telling the truth. "That's certainly true," she stated.

Brittany continued, "However, we can't expect our relationship to progress any further without one or both of us taking a leap of faith, and that's what we're going to do by going to this reunion."

At the sound of Brittany's peremptory and commanding tone, Santana bristled up and said, "Brittany . . ."

"Listen Santana," Brittany continued, seizing her newfound advantage she had gained. "I love you Santana, of that I am positive now. However, while you claim to love me back, I can't know that for sure if you don't do something to show that you mean it Santana. Relationships, especially those regarding love and romance, require trust, and how can I trust you if you won't trust me to be within 50 miles of Sam?"

"Brittany, that's an exaggeration, and you know it . . ."

"Exaggeration or not, my point still stands. If you can't trust me to be around one of our oldest friends just because of past romantic history between me and him, then I can't trust you, and that means we can't truly love each other. If you truly love me, then you will allow me to go to Lima for this reunion. You can stay here if you want, I won't force you into this if you're truly dead set against it, but I am going to take part in this reunion. If you love me, you will let me go. Got it?"

For a moment, Santana just stood there at the counter, stunned by what Brittany had just said. Eventually, Santana took a close look into Brittany's face, saw the determination and pain in her eyes, and realized that she was serious. With a gulp, Santana gaped at Brittany, thought furiously to herself about what she should do, and then made her decision in a heartbeat. Sam or no Sam, she was not going to sacrifice her love for Brittany over a stupid grudge.

With a smile, Santana said, "Brittany, you are definitely a genius."

Brittany smiled, and responded, "So does that mean?"

"Yes. We are going to Lima for the reunion."

"You're not just telling me a lie to comfort me are you? I mean, we are talking about being around Sam you know."

"My hatred for Sam may be strong, but my love for you is far stronger. I've already lost you once, and I'm not going to let it happen a second time over a grudge. I'm going to Lima." Immediately after Santana said this, she finished off with a smile, "Of course, you're welcome to come with me if you wish."

**And just like that, Brittany and Santana are going to Lima for the reunion! I hope all you Brittana fans out there like this chapter! I apologize in advance to all fans of Dantana, Bram, or any other ships involving Brittany or Santana that aren't Brittana. I do like Dantana, but Brittana will always win out in my mind, so that's what it's going to be like in this story. On that note, do you really think that Santana's is truly over her grudge against Sam? How might this affect the atmosphere at the reunion? Give it time, give it time ;)**

**On that note, read, review, hopefully enjoy, and most importantly, PLEASE review (even if you're a guest!)!**

**Coming up next: Puck receives his invitation to the reunion. How has our favorite Glee bad boy been doing? What will he have to say about joining Finn and the other New Directions season 3 members in Lima? And which two New Directions alumni might his presence cause a little difficulty for?**

**On with the third and final chapter of today's triple update! :)**


	13. Dog Days are Over

**Aloha! Here is the third and final chapter for today's triple update! I hope this triple update gives you a triple dosage of enjoyment, wonder, and most of all, glee over this Glee-ful fanfiction! Please read, review, and enjoy!**

**In this chapter, as promised, Puck receives his invitation to the New Directions reunion. Will he accept? Or will he decline? Fear not! The answer lies before your eyes in this chapter! :)**

**Again, I do not own Glee.**

**Chapter 13:**

**Dog Days are Over**

Noah Puckerman was having a relatively uneventful day. As he calmly scrubbed the pool cleaning mop across the surface of the walls of the pool he'd been hired to clean at that moment, he thought to himself how today wasn't nearly as exciting as most days in L.A. were expected to be. Today, all that was really going on was just routinely pool cleaning, meals, and casual time to do nothing.

Puck sighed to himself. "Seriously, this place is the city of talent. Why is everything so boring today? What happened to this city?" Even as he asked the question, Puck knew in the back of his mind that the city hadn't changed at all; it was himself who had changed. He sighed again as he thought about all that happened to him in the last few years. Ever since graduation, he had to admit that he'd turned out to be a whole lot more successful in his life than most people would have guessed if they'd seen him as a high school student, or even while living at the University of Lima as Finn's roommate without being a student there.

As he had the thought, Puck couldn't help but smile as he remembered the pay raise he'd received the day before from the pool-cleaning company he worked for in L.A. A part of him hadn't really even believed that he had actually received the raise; but the rest of him knew that he'd been perfectly deserving of the reward thanks to his excellent mad skill. In fact, now that Puck thought about it, his own talent at pool cleaning was very much the equivalent of his half-brother, Jake's, flair for dancing. At the memory of his half-brother, Puck's smile grew immense as he remembered the recent music video he'd released starring himself and his longtime high school girlfriend Marley Rose. Puck chuckled at the memory of Marley. The way he saw it, Jake and Marley were almost certainly bound to announce their engagement any day now.

Of course, that was more than could be said about himself. In fact, now that he thought about it, he wasn't the only single guy out there among all the others from the glee club who were doing an excellent job with their life nowadays. He thought of his best friend, Finn Hudson, and how well he was doing as the great teacher he'd always knew he'd become at the Lima Senior High School. He thought of Artie Abrams, his wheelchair bound buddy who had gone from pitiful loser to powerful CEO of his very own movie studio. Then he thought of Joseph Hart, so devoted to his religion that he could make even the most cold-hearted atheist weep for God's blessing, yet now also a surprisingly effective lawyer. Finally, he thought about the Irish foreign exchange student, Rory Flanagan, who had gone from insecure immigrant to Ireland's #1 music star, and of his two gay high school friends, Kurt Hummel and Blaine Anderson. Almost immediately after he had the thought, he scrapped the latter two from his list. "Please," he thought to himself. "Those two are practically married; as soon as they get things all figured out that is."

Chuckling as he had the thought, Puck withdrew the mop from the pool. He had now finished cleaning this pool. Within minutes afterward, he'd received his salary from the owner of the pool, gotten into his luxurious pickup truck, and started off on his way to the ramshackle trailer park where he lived.

As Puck drove off down the route that led to where he lived, Puck thought about his other friends from the glee club. Truth be told, he actually missed them all pretty well, especially Finn and Quinn. Ever since Finn's graduation from the University of Lima, the two best friends had rarely had any time to spend together, and rarely even talked to each other anymore. As for Quinn, Puck couldn't help but sigh as he realized once again that so many years later, he still had small feelings for her. Like it or not, he knew that the beautiful girl he'd put through Hell and back so many times back in high school would always have a special place in his heart. Still, he was realistic enough to know that Quinn had long since moved on in her life ever since graduation, even further since she'd been in the audience with the others to watch Rachel's performance in the Broadway reawakening of Funny Girl, and further still after graduating at the top of her class from Yale. As far as he could tell, she really didn't need him anymore. Besides, he was honest himself enough with himself to know that with the way Quinn's career and life was going so happily for her these days, he would only get in the way.

Puck couldn't help but sigh to himself once more as he neared the end of the drive to reach his residence. He knew that his relationship with Quinn had been toxic to say the least, but he knew that if he could just see her and all his other friends together in the same place with him for at least one more time, he'd probably be perfectly happy, and willing to finally take the plunge and attempt to let go of his old lingering crush on Quinn. He still had that wistful thought on his mind as he parked his pickup truck in the area where all the other trailer people parked their vehicles and got out of the truck to head to his trailer.

Puck smiled widely as he caught sight of the pristine-conditioned trailer he lived in and how it stood out among all the other quite ramshackle trailers in the area. "Well, it's not much," he thought to himself, "but at least it's home." Still smiling, he made his way over to the trailer, and had just opened the door to enter when he noticed the small red envelope sticking out of his mail basket.

Curious, Puck reached into the basket and drew it out. With one look at the envelope, he learned that it was from none other than Finn. Excited at seeing the name of his best friend on the return address of the letter, Puck drew out a switchblade that he kept in his pants pocket, slashed open the envelope, and read the letter in a heartbeat. Puck smiled once again after reading the letter. It was an invitation from Finn to come to Lima for a New Directions reunion. Still smugly grinning, Puck folded the letter and stuffed it into his pants pocket along with his switchblade.

He certainly had to admit that he would definitely enjoy coming over to visit his good old best buddy, Finn, not to mention all the other former New Directions members that he'd befriended, or in the case of Jake, was related to. In fact, as he had the thought, perhaps this would be just the opportunity he needed to get closure on how things stood between him and Quinn these days and possibly have the chance to finally get over her once and for all, if not something possibly even better. Smiling still, he clasped his hands together, walked into his trailer, and closed the door.

"Well that's it," he said to himself. "I'm going to Lima."

**And just like that, Puck is going to Lima for the New Directions reunion! Hip, hip, hooray! :) Then again, do I detect possible tension between Puck and Joe over Quinn? Dunn, dunn, dunn! Let's hope things work out well in the end! :) I apologize that this chapter was so relatively short compared to all the others. But anyway, I hope that all you readers and gleeks enjoy this chapter, and also the other two before it in this triple update! Please read, enjoy, and review! I also hope very much that you will be able to review a whole lot more often now that the holiday break will soon be upon you for the most part. On that same note, I wouldn't be surprised if I start to update more often now that my own winter break has begun :) Still, after today, the newest update for this story will not be until tomorrow at the earliest. I need to give you plenty of time to read the three new chapters I just provided you with today don't I? :) Enjoy!**


	14. It's Time

**Hey there peoples, here is yet another update. I hope you enjoy this one, and leave plenty of reviews :)**

**In this chapter, Blaine gets his invitation to the reunion. What will his answer be?**

**Did I already mention that I don't own Glee? Onward with the fic!**

**Chapter 14:**

**It's Time**

Blaine Anderson had a huge smile on his face as he strode down the hall of the floor where his apartment was located. He had just returned to New York from London, the last stop in his recent United Kingdom tour of a performance of West Side Story, in which he himself had performed as Tony. Despite how much he'd enjoyed his performances in the tour, it had been quite exhausting. Therefore, now that he was back in the familiar surroundings of New York City, and in his apartment building residence for that matter, he felt relaxed and at home once again.

With a sigh of content and relief, he placed his key card in the lock of his room, and entered. Inside, the apartment looked as comfortable and clean as ever. With a sigh of exhaustion, Blaine put his luggage down by the door, walked over to the sofa nearby his television, and sank down gratefully into it. He knew he would have to unpack soon and find a way to make plans for what to do for what considerable time he had before the next show that he would likely be called on to perform in, but for now, he could afford to relax. After all, while it had been close to midnight back in London when he'd left to return to New York, it was 2:40 p.m. here in New York City, which meant there was plenty of time left for him to hang around the city a little before going to bed.

As he lay down comfortably on the sofa, Blaine thought about how the audience had cheered euphorically for his performances, and subconsciously compared the audiences that had been there in the United Kingdom to the one that he himself had been in when he and his other friends from the glee club had watched Rachel in her performance in the Broadway reawakening of Funny Girl. As he had the thought, he sighed as he found himself wishing that the phantom images of his glee club friends, and in particular, Kurt, that he'd seen in the U.K. audiences had been the actual flesh and blood forms of his friends instead of apparitions caused by his imagination like they had been in reality.

In fact, now that he thought about it, he actually could have slightly enjoyed being there for Rachel's Funny Girl performance and his time in NYADA after graduation a little more if he'd been on slightly better terms with Kurt. He remembered how he'd proposed marriage to Kurt directly after Regionals during his senior year, and how Kurt had told him that he was unsure but that he would have a more definitive answer later when the time was right. From that point on, the two had been on slightly chilly terms since then. Blaine sighed, for sooner or later, he and Kurt would have to face each other over this matter, but how?

Suddenly, Blaine heard his cell phone ring. Groaning, he drew it out of his pocket, and saw that it was from none other than Sebastian Smythe. Blaine sighed, for Sebastian almost constantly called him these days. Sighing, Blaine accepted the call, put his phone up to his ear and said, "Hello?"

"What up Blaine?" he heard Sebastian's eager voice reply immediately afterward.

Blaine sighed, "Well, I'm still a little exhausted from just arriving back from London. I suppose you are still in Lima with Hunter and Ryan?" Blaine knew that this was the likely case since Sebastian and Hunter Clarington rarely ever went anywhere without the other ever since they'd married and adopted a young orphan boy named Ryan.

Sure enough, Sebastian chuckled, and responded, "Well yeah, they're here in the house with me. Would you like to speak to them?"

"Not right now. At my current state of exhaustion, I'm barely able to talk to you."

"Ok than," Sebastian said a little dejectedly. "Well, Sectionals is coming up in a few months down in Cincinnati for the Warblers. Would you like to come watch Ryan perform with us? Maybe we could hang out at a bar later afterward?"

Blaine hesitated, unsure what to say to this. Truth be told, he did find the offer tempting. Still, he wasn't all that willing to make even a slight indication of possibly giving up on Kurt. Then again, he also had to admit that he was in need of some sort of companionship, and Sebastian was already married. But there was still that nagging doubt.

"I'm waiting," Sebastian said patiently.

At that point, Blaine made up his mind. "Sorry Sebastian. I can't come, I'll be busy at that time."

"By that do you mean actually busy, or do you just not want to hang around with me because of your situation with Kurt?"

Blaine paused; about to lie and say that it was the former, but then decided that it would be much kinder for him to tell Sebastian the truth. "You're right Sebastian. I'm still very much in love with Kurt and I hope to get my current situation with him out of the way before spending too much time around any former rivals for his affections."

"Blaine, it's been twenty-two years!"

"I know that Sebastian, but nonetheless, I'm telling the truth. I love Kurt, and I can't hang out with you without feeling guilty right now. I know that this isn't fair to you Sebastian, but it's not my fault that this is the way things are."

Sebastian sighed, and said, "Well ok, I guess you're right. I'll tell you what, from now on, I'm going to make this easier for you. Until you more or less start to make at least a tiny bit of progress in fixing up your situation with Kurt, I'm going to stay out of your life affairs. No calls, no texts, nothing. Got that?"

"Sebastian you don't have to do this. I'm sure we can come to some sort of arrangement. I want things to work out for the best for all of us . . ."

"No Blaine. The only way this is going to work out for the best for anyone is if I don't risk messing things up. I can't let my actions influence how you deal with your situation with Kurt. I already know this will be difficult enough for you Blaine. You don't need me making things worse."

"Sebastian please, . . ."

"No Blaine, I am going to hang up right now. Good bye, and good luck with Kurt," Sebastian said with a tone of bitterness and finality to his voice before Blaine heard a beep that signaled that the call was over.

Blaine lowered the phone from his ear and stared dejectedly at it. Truth be told, despite how much he actually saw the sense in what Sebastian was doing and was thankful for it, he still cared for Sebastian as a friend and had not wanted to hurt him in the way he'd just done. Still, he knew that what he'd said to Sebastian about his feelings for Kurt was true. As he had the thought, he realized that like it or not, Sebastian was right. He needed to settle things with Kurt once and for all someday or another. The last thing he could afford was for a third party obstacle to risk making things even more difficult than they were already going to be.

Sighing, Blaine decided that he'd rested long enough, and got up from the couch. He stretched his hands up into the air, and then lowered them as he felt the energy come awakening back in him as a result. "What to do?" Blaine thought to himself. Seconds later, he decided that he would have a large snack or so at a local restaurant. A nice New York burger after returning home from London probably wouldn't do any harm. At the thought of eating a nice tasty cheeseburger, Blaine's mouth watered, and he found himself feeling quite hungry. "Yep," Blaine said to himself. "I'm definitely in the mood for a cheeseburger today." With his mind made up, he checked his pockets for his wallet, and then walked out the door.

Right after he walked out the door, Blaine bumped right into the mailman. "Sorry Mr. Anderson!" the mailman spluttered nervously. "I didn't realize you had returned."

Blaine smiled, and said reassuringly, "Don't worry. It's fine."

"That's good," the mailman said; looking quite relieved that he hadn't angered the famous Broadway actor that was now standing before him. Having gotten over his initial surprise at seeing Blaine back at his apartment, the mailman drew out a red envelope from his mail bag and handed it to Blaine.

"I was about to put this in your mail box, but since you've just now come out here, I guess it wouldn't make much of a difference if I just gave it to you right now." The post man said.

Blaine gently grabbed the letter, thanked the mailman, and sent him on his way. When the mailman was gone, Blaine opened up the envelope and pulled out the letter inside. Upon reading it, Blaine grinned; for it was an invitation from Finn to come to Lima for a New Directions reunion. Blaine had to admit, the idea was definitely appealing. After all, he would certainly enjoy hanging out with Sam, Tina, and all his other friends. That is, almost all his other friends. Upon thinking this, Blaine sighed as he once again remembered his situation with Kurt.

Even after so many years, he still remembered the terrible heartbreak he'd felt when he'd first broken up with Kurt, and the humiliation he'd felt when Kurt had been unable to give him a definitive answer when proposed to that same year. As Blaine had these thoughts, he sighed once more. Could he really do this?

Then Blaine remembered the intense hope he'd felt deep within him when Kurt had told him that when the time was right, he would have a definitive answer for him, and that a part of him did want very much to marry him. As he had this thought, he remembered his performance of It's Time by the Imagine Dragons band from during his senior year when he'd said goodbye to Kurt and wished him luck when Kurt had been on the verge of travelling to New York. In fact, he'd actually sung that very same song for his audition for Tony in the United Kingdom tour performance of West Side Story. As he had the thought, Blaine finally made up his mind. "It's time," he said to himself in a low whisper. "I'm going to go back to Lima, take part in this reunion, and make things right with Kurt once and for all. I am going to start preparing today." After making this decision, Blaine then added, "But first, I should probably get a burger. I am pretty hungry right now after all. Preparations are best made on a full stomach, not an empty one." Smiling again, Blaine continued down the hall to get to the elevator. As he walked, his dark eyes gleamed in anticipation of satisfying his hunger, and even more so in anticipation of his upcoming opportunity to hang out with all his friends.

**Just like that, Blaine is coming to Lima for the reunion. I apologize immediately to all Klaine fans. Trust me, I am over the moon over how this couple is engaged on Glee and hope very much that Kurt doesn't end up pulling an Eli C. scandal on Blaine with Elliot aka Starchild. However, at the time I came up with this story, the events I had happen in this story seemed like a logical turn of events. On that note, all you Klaine fans shouldn't have to worry forever. Trust me, things will work out perfectly between Kurt and Blaine by the time this story ends. Give it time Klaine fans, give it time ;).**

**Coming up next: Rory and Sugar receive their invitations to the reunion. Will they follow in the footsteps of their fourteen friends from the Season 3 New Directions? On that note, how has Rory been doing in Ireland since he was deported between seasons 3 and 4? Could he still possibly have a reason to find any appeal in coming to Lima to visit his friends? And what about Sugar? From the hints I've already given so far in this story, she appears to be doing good job as the new CEO of her father's piano company, but is her life as Motta Pianos' CEO really as glamorous as I've currently let on? And let's not forget Artie. How might things unfold between Rory, Artie, and Sugar at the reunion? Do I detect yet another potential source of drama? Now that is a very good question. :)**

**Anyways, please read, enjoy, and oh so please review! I am begging for more reviews!**


	15. A Change Would do you Good

**Hiya Gleeks! U enjoying all the free time you r having now that Winter Break has begun? I hope you r also enjoying the stories that are to be found on this website, including my own. On that note, here is the newest update! I hope you read, enjoy, and leave lots of reviews! :)**

**In this chapter, Rory and Sugar receive their invitations to the reunion. What will their answers be? And how have their lives been going since the end of seasons 3 and 4 (respectively)? Are their lives as "filled with reason for ecstasy" as I've let on? Read on dear readers and find out.**

**Do I still need to remind you guys how I, for a fact, do not own Glee?**

**Chapter 15:**

**A Change Would do you Good**

Rory Flanagan heaved out a sigh of exhaustion as he entered his luxurious mansion. "Boy, what a long day," he said to himself under his breath as he thought about how he'd just spent the last few hours performing his heart out at his latest concert. If there were any day that he truly felt exhausted at the end, it was on concert days.

"Still," Rory said with a smile coming on his face. "My life could be worse." And it truly could have been worse. He remembered all too well how relatively poverty stricken his family had been before his being sent to the United States of America as a foreign exchange student compared to now in his adulthood as a famous singer. His smile grew wider as he remembered his time at the American school of William McKinley High. Sure, he'd missed his family back in Ireland more than he could have been able to describe. Still, after a rather unpleasant few weeks of being bullied at the school, he'd been able to make some valuable friends among the McKinley glee club, the New Directions.

At the thought of the New Directions, Rory's smile grew immense. If there'd been a bright spot in his time in America, it had been his time with all his many friends in the New Directions. In fact, it was his time with them, and in the glee club for that matter, that had inspired him to become a singer in Ireland.

Rory sighed as he remembered how sad he and all his friends had been when the day of his deportation had come. He himself had been the saddest. In fact, he'd been in tears when he'd embraced his glee club friend, Sugar Motta, his first girlfriend, goodbye. He smiled as he remembered how tearful Sugar herself had been when she'd said farewell. Even now, he still remembered her, and even saw phantom images of her in the audience every time he performed. He sighed, for despite how many beautiful girls were throwing themselves at him now, he still couldn't find a single local Irish girl that could ever compare to Sugar.

As Rory took a seat at the table in his kitchen, he sighed as he continued to think about his friends from the New Directions. He knew that as a famous singer, he had a permanent visa for the United States, and was free to visit. Still, he couldn't just hop on a plane and fly off to America without some good reason other than visiting his friends. Besides, how was he even to know if his friends would be all that interested in him coming anymore? As he had this particular thought, he remembered bitterly how of the sixteen students that had made up the New Directions on the year he'd been a student at McKinley, he was the only one who hadn't been there in the audience to cheer Rachel on at her performance in the reawakened American theater classic, Funny Girl. He sighed again, for he knew that at the very least, Sugar would not have been proud of him if she'd still been dating him.

As he had that particular thought, Rory snarled angrily as he remembered what Sugar had once told him many years ago in a text during her junior year about how she'd started dating Artie Abrams, his old rival for her affections during his time at McKinley. Rory sighed in defeat as he finally calmed down from his initial anger. Even when he'd been dating Sugar himself, there had been a small part of him in the back of his mind that had known that he wouldn't be able to make it with her in the end. Still, the fact that Sugar had so willingly moved on with his old rival directly after his deportation made him feel as if he'd been used for little more than pleasure before being cast aside like a broken shoe.

Rory groaned as he had that particular thought. "Of all the rotten luck, why did I have to be deported?" Rory asked himself angrily. Eventually, he decided to call his parents. After all, talking to them had always comforted and calmed him down in the past. With a smile on his face at the thought of talking to his family, Rory got up from his chair at the table and headed over to use the landline phone.

However, right as he was about to pick up the receiver and dial his parents' number, he felt his cell phone vibrate in the way he'd set it to do for if he received an email. With a sigh, Rory dug into his pants pocket and pulled out his phone. "Here comes more fan mail," he said with a groan as he opened up his email account on his phone.

However, when he saw what his newest email message was from, he found himself pleasantly surprised when he saw that it was from one of his old friends from the New Directions instead of from a fan like he'd been expecting. In fact, it was from Finn Hudson, one of his first friends in America. Eager to see what Finn had thought important enough to send an email about, Rory opened up the message.

Upon reading Finn's email message, Rory whistled loudly to himself when he noticed that it was an invitation to come to Lima for a New Directions reunion. A smile came on his face as he thought of how appealing the idea was. He certainly knew that he'd enjoy hanging out with Finn, Sam, Brittany, and all of the others from the glee club during his time as a student at McKinley High. Then Rory thought about Sugar and Artie, and his smile faded slightly as he thought of the idea of having to confront his ex-girlfriend and former rival. The idea was definitely a sour one to say the least.

Then Rory thought about how much he had been missing all his friends for the last few years. After all, twenty two years apart from his friends were certainly a little too long as far as he could tell. He considered the pros and cons of coming to Lima, and eventually decided that in the long run, the pros far outweighed the cons. "Besides," he thought to himself with a grin, "A change from my current routine here in Ireland would certainly do me good."

His mind made up, Rory dialed the number for his agent on his cellphone. When the agent answered, it took him and Rory a matter of minutes to arrange a vacation to America for some time in the upcoming months ahead. After all, Rory's upcoming Christmas concert was the last concert scheduled before Rory would then take a long vacation from performing and doing song writing until the fourth of July next year. Rory smiled widely after ending the call with his agent. "Yep, I am definitely going back to Lima," he said out loud to himself. Then he turned his head back to the landline phone, and with a grin, he stated, "I guess I'd better tell my parents the good news."

. . . . .

Sugar Motta slapped her forehead with her right palm, sighing in exasperation as she digested what she had just been told by the tall, well-built man with sandy blonde hair that was now standing in front of her and had come to her with bad news about one of the piano orders from Cincinnati. Two of the five pianos in the order had been damaged during transport as a result of faulty restraint that had resulted in the faultily restrained piano sliding across the floor of the delivery truck and smashing into a second, thus resulting in the two pianos crashing into the truck's wall and being smashed into wreckage. However, what made this matter even more irritating, was that it had been caused by a fault that the very same employee who'd told her the news should have made sure didn't happen considering the fact that he was the one who supervised the packaging of the pianos reserved for long distance orders.

Trying her best to keep her temper in check, Sugar shouted out to the employee, "This is the third time an accident like this has happened! How many times must I tell you that you're supposed to make sure that _all_ the pianos are properly restrained before transport?"

At the sound of the indignant words, Bobby Surette winced. Truth be told, he knew only too well how this accident, while the third to occur, had resulted directly after the seventh time Ms. Motta had lectured him to make sure that all pianos in an order were properly restrained in the truck before they were shipped off. In fact, the only reason he'd continued to disobey Ms. Motta's orders in the matter of inspecting the restraints was so that he could make a point that she couldn't control his every move. Unfortunately, at the rate things were currently going, Bobby now had a feeling that he was going to have to start taking his boss's orders seriously.

Sure enough, Sugar then said, "Mr. Surette, I know that it is time consuming to inspect every single piano that is about to be shipped off, but this is ridiculous! Three orders have gotten damaged through your negligence, and the four times before these incidents, the restraints barely managed to remain intact long enough for the pianos to arrive at their destinations! Do you have any idea what kind of effect this is having on our reputation?"

Bobby looked into his boss's face, saw the barely restrained anger in her eyes, and said, "Yes mam."

Sugar snorted, and said, "Well you'd better Mr. Surette, because this is a three strike company, and this is your seventh strike! Mark my words, if this happens again, like it or not, I won't have any choice but to fire you. Do you want that?"

"No." Bobby said in a hurry.

Sugar leaned over, and curtly stated, "Good, now get back to work, and do not give the ok until you are absolutely positive that all the pianos in this next order are properly restrained for transport!"

"Yes mam," Bobby said hastily before dashing away towards the area where the newly prepared order was waiting. "I'd definitely better make sure I do it right this time," he thought to himself. "If another accident like this happens again, I'll end up just like Phil." His old friend from high school, Phil Lipoff, had also formerly worked at Motta Pianos. Unfortunately, Phil's greed had resulted in him demanding exorbitant fees from the customers during his career as a cashier. After the seventh complaint about Phil's behavior, he had been unceremoniously fired from the company and sent home without the day's payment. Fortunately, Phil had managed to find a different job that allowed him to support his family, but regardless, Bobby did not want to have to travel down the same route as Phil, not this time.

As Bobby Surette ran off to examine the next newly prepared order, Sugar sighed in exhaustion. Running the company was definitely nowhere near as easy as her father had made it seem. For three months now she'd been serving as CEO of the piano company ever since her father had chosen to retire. Now, she was wishing that her employees would have some more sense about getting their work done.

Sugar groaned in exasperation as she thought of all the accidents that had occurred thanks to Mr. Surette's carelessness as well as the complaints she'd received from her customers about Mr. Lipoff's moronic greed for money at the cash register. "Good grief," she said to herself in her mind, "Why won't they take me seriously? Am I that different from my father?"

Even as she had the thought, Sugar realized that she was indeed very different from her father in the way that she was running the family business. Chief among the differences, as she had ruefully made clear to Mr. Surette, was that she was slightly more lenient and merciful in the company's three strike system. Also, due to how much money she had without knowing what to do with it, she was much more generous in her employees' wages than her father had been. In fact, now that she thought about it, her father would probably have thrown her out on her ear if he knew about the ridiculously large amounts of money the employees received in their wages now that she was the boss.

Eventually, Sugar headed over to her office. Right now, she needed time to think, and she knew that her office was the best option for a place to calm down in. When Sugar reached her office, she closed the door behind her, sat down at her desk, and took several deep breaths to calm herself down. "Just relax," she told herself in her mind. "Things will get better with time." However, even as she said this, she found herself wishing that she could believe it. To be honest, she was seriously wondering whether or not she could successfully lead the family piano company successfully like her father had. The way things were currently going, the family reputation was already on the verge of becoming a laughing stock. At this rate, Sugar was seriously considering selling the company.

With a sad sigh, Sugar leaned down on the desk with her chin on her palms. "If only my friends from the glee club were here helping me," she thought wistfully to herself. "Even Brittany would almost certainly know just the right thing to do to help me take care of my business properly."

As she had the thought, Sugar smiled wistfully as she remembered her many friends from the glee club back in high school. Admittedly, the first time they'd met each other hadn't been the most fun of circumstances, especially considering her horrific singing. At age 39, Sugar now couldn't help but wince as she thought back to how much of a lousy soloist she'd been; and she'd even had the nerve to call herself better then all of the other glee clubbers combined! She'd even had the nerve to practically call Mrs. Corcoran a terrible singer compared to herself when the teacher had very obviously been a million times better. "God, talk about arrogant," she said to herself as she remembered how angry she'd been when Mr. Schuester had reluctantly told her that he'd be unable to yet accept her into the glee club.

Fortunately, after a brief few months in the Trouble Tones club that had briefly been formed, she had eventually gotten herself a position in the New Directions, and thankfully after her first encounter with one Santana Lopez as a Trouble Tones member had sufficiently managed to tone her attitude down by a couple pegs. Since then, her friendship with all the members in that club had grown to the point that she had found herself romantically interested in both the sweet and hilarious wheelchair boy, Artie Abrams, and the charismatic Irish foreign exchange student, Rory Flanagan. As she thought about those two boys in particular now, she remembered the roller coaster ride she'd gone through in regard to romance through them.

Rory had been her very first boyfriend, and they'd spent many months together as a happy couple until the day that Rory had been deported back to Ireland. While the loss had been enough to bring tears to her eyes, she'd been able to move on with Artie, and things had gone quite smoothly between them until she'd quit the glee club in anger for having lost sectionals during that same year. This had managed to draw a wedge between her and Artie large enough to the point that Artie had been more than happy to flirt around and sexually hook up with Mrs. Pillsbury's beautiful wheelchair-bound niece Betty.

Sugar sighed as she now remembered how lonely she now was in regard to friendship and romance. "If only I could hang out with them all again," she thought to herself. Fortunately, almost instantly after Sugar had this thought, a chance to do exactly that came right to her in the form of a red envelope.

It happened soon after Sugar heard someone knocking on the door to her office. "What is it?" she asked in slight exasperation. The door opened to reveal her PA. At the sight of the now disgruntled woman who currently served as her personal assistant at Motta Pianos, Sugar guiltily grimaced as she bitterly remembered how she'd reacted to the sound of the door being knocked on.

The woman unceremoniously tossed a red envelope towards Sugar and said curtly, "You've got mail," before turning around and walking back down the hall from where she'd come. Sugar was about to go after the woman and give her a severe dressing down for her lack of manners before she then decided that she herself had practically asked for the PA to act that way and that it would be ok if she let her off the hook this time. Sighing, Sugar opened up the letter without evening bothering to look at the return address and see who it was from.

Upon reading the letter inside the envelope, Sugar's eyes widened when she realized that it was from Finn Hudson, one of her friends from the glee club. In fact, this wasn't just any letter, it was an invitation no less to come join him and the others for a New Directions reunion. Sugar smiled as she considered the idea. The idea definitely held quite a bit of appeal for her. In fact, the way she saw it, this letter couldn't have come at a more perfect time. At this point, she was willing to do anything to hang out with her friends and have some time to relax away from the constant pressures demanded upon her by her position as CEO of the family company. She was definitely more willing now to chum around with Artie and Rory then to risk going mad under all the pressure she was going through as the head of Motta Pianos.

Unfortunately, as she had the thought, her smile faded slightly as she thought of how risky it could be for Artie and Rory to be in the same area together, especially with herself around. After all, despite how both their relationships with her had ended up going badly in the end, they would probably both still feel a truck load of tension between each other over her. Then she thought to herself, "Tension shmension. I'd rather watch them kill each other then have to go through this travesty. If I spend another day here after today without a break with my friends, I'll go insane."

At that moment, with her mind made up, Sugar picked up her work phone, dialed her father's number, and put it up to her ear as she listened to the ringing, waiting for someone to pick up. Within a few minutes, she heard her father's familiar voice say, "Good afternoon, how may I help my little angel today?"

Sugar smiled weakly in relief, and then responded, "Hey dad, would you mind if you briefly resumed command of the company for a few months or so? I think I might go mad if I don't have a long break from all this trauma I've been put through these days."

"Sounds like a plan, I'll be more than happy to help you out. I can definitely agree that being a CEO can be a nightmare for people that are new to what it's like. In fact, when I first inherited the CEO position after my father retired, I nearly checked myself into an asylum after my first few months as CEO."

"Thanks dad," Sugar responded in relief. "You're the best."

"You're welcome sweetheart. I'll make sure things are in perfect order by the time you think you're ready to resume your duties here."

Sugar smiled, and hung up the phone. "Well that's it," she said to herself. "I hope my friends are ready to see me at the reunion with them."

**And just like that, all sixteen New Directions members of the Season 3 line-up will be coming to Lima for the reunion! Excited? I certainly hope so! :) On that note, I am posting a poll for you to tell me which potential situation of drama you think you're looking forward to seeing unfold the most. Anyway, happy reading, and please enjoy and review! :)**

**Coming up next: It's back to McKinley (you hear that Cookie05?)! The new New Directions start out on a weekly assignment in which they get to perform songs that hold a personal meaning to them. What will they all have to say through the power of music?**


	16. Getting into Character

**Aloha! Well today, having finished my final exam for the semester, I am now off school in full now, till next semester anyway. On that note, to celebrate, I am providing you with a double update! Please read, enjoy, and most importantly, review. And please vote in my recent poll. Seriously, I'm begging you guys to do so. Well anyway, on with the fic! I hope you enjoy how I am now returning to the perspective of what's going on at McKinley with the new generation of New Directions!**

**I did mention that I don't own Glee right?**

**Chapter 16:**

**Getting into Character**

One month later, Mr. Schuester had no idea just how much fun he was about to have in the coming few months with sixteen of his former students. That Monday morning not too long before Thanksgiving this year, his thoughts were almost entirely focused on his brand new posse of gleeks whenever he thought about matters of his duties as the glee club director.

He smiled to himself as he thought about how well things were going so far with all his new students. But now, it was time to really start pushing them, for now they had only three weeks left before Sectionals. With that in mind, Mr. Schuester knew that the club would have to be at the top of its game in order to win this year, particularly considering how well skilled their competition was going to be this year at Sectionals.

Mr. Schuester took deep breaths as he prepared himself to go back over the lesson for this week. While confident in his ability to hone the New Directions' ability to its finest in time for Sectionals, he always had tiny nagging doubts in his mind about whether or not they would win a competition every time one came up. In fact, these doubts had become more pronounced ever since the New Directions' disastrous loss twenty-two years prior to this year. He shuddered as he remembered how devastating it had been for the club, and especially to Finn since it had been the very first competition that the New Directions club had performed in under his leadership. As he thought about this, Mr. Schuester took a final deep breath, and silently vowed once again under his breath that he would never let it happen again as long as he was capable of preventing it from happening.

With the momentary doubts cast aside, Mr. Schuester said, "Good afternoon everyone!"

"Good afternoon," rang out the thirteen voices of the New Directions members.

Smiling Mr. Schuester continued, "Alright everyone, now as I told you earlier today during recess, the assignment for this week is to perform one of your favorite songs of all time. Can any of you remember why I want you to do this for this week's assignment?"

Bailey raised her hand.

"Yes Bailey?"

"Correct me if I'm wrong or sound too blunt, but would it have anything to do with helping us be at our best for Sectionals?"

"Correct! I do want you to be at your best, and possibly even beyond that by the time we reach Sectionals. With that in mind, one of the most effective methods at getting at the top of your game is to simply be yourself, and for many people, their favorite song often tells others at least a small hint about that person's personality. That's why I want you all to sing one of your favorite songs of all time for this week's assignment. By performing your favorite song of all time to us and possibly showing us at least a small portion of what your personality is like through it, you should in theory gain just the right amount of confidence you need to truly be yourself and be natural while performing at Sectionals. Got that?"

The thirteen students all nodded their understanding.

"Awesome," Mr. Schuester replied. "Now on that note, do any of you have a performance ready for us today?"

"I do," said Zack as he stood up to attention.

"Very well then Zack," Mr. Schuester said with a smile. "Let's hear it."

Zack walked down towards the center of the show choir room, and then turned and beckoned. At the sight of this, Daniel and Calvin got up from their seats and moved into position in the center of the room as well. As Mr. Schuester and the other ten gleeks watched in confusion and anticipation, Daniel sat down at the drums while Calvin drew out his guitar.

Zack grinned, and explained, "I am about to perform my favorite song. Daniel and Calvin are going to provide some instrumental back-up. Please do not count this as their performance for this week. They've already told me that they wish to perform their own favorite songs later this week."

"Very well then," Mr. Schuester stated. "Let's see what you've got for us then."

Zack grinned, and took a deep breath. Upon seeing Zack prepare himself for his upcoming performance, Daniel raised the drum sticks up in the air so that they were ready to be slammed down on the drums while Calvin tentatively placed his finger tips on the strings that he knew were the correct ones for the opening notes to the song that was about to be performed. Seconds later, Zack enthusiastically started singing:

_Wop-bop-a-loo-mop alop-bam-boom  
Tutti Frutti, aw rutti  
Tutti Frutti, aw rutti  
Tutti Frutti, aw rutti  
Tutti Frutti, aw rutti  
Tutti Frutti, aw rutti  
Awop-bop-a-loo-mop alop bam boom  
I got a girl, named Sue,  
She knows just what to do  
I got a girl, named Sue,  
She knows just what to do  
I rock to the east, She rock to the west, but  
She's the girl  
That I love the best.  
Tutti Frutti, aw rutti  
Tutti Frutti, aw rutti  
Tutti Frutti, aw rutti  
Tutti Frutti, aw rutti  
Tutti Frutti, aw rutti  
Awop-bop-a-loo-mop alop bam boom  
I got a girl, named Daisy,  
She almost drives me crazy  
I got a girl, named Daisy,  
She almost drives me crazy  
She knows how to love me ,  
Yes indeed  
Boy you don't know,  
What she's doing to me  
Tutti Frutti, aw rutti  
Tutti Frutti, aw rutti  
Tutti Frutti, aw rutti  
Tutti Frutti, aw rutti  
Tutti Frutti, aw rutti  
Awop-bop-a-loo-mop alop bam boom_

At that moment, right as Zack started that line, Daniel started beating down harder than before on the drums in preparation for an upcoming solo involving him and Calvin. Immediately after Zack finished singing the line preceding the solo, Calvin eagerly joined in on his guitar practically skipping and galloping around on his feet while playing the guitar with a ridiculously happy grin on his face while Daniel enthusiastically played accompaniment on the drums. At the climax, Calvin tipped over on the ground and spun around on his back like a professional while strumming the guitar, and the gleeks watching went wild. Seconds before the solo was due to end, Calvin leaped back up onto his feet and masterfully strummed out the last note in the solo at the same time as Daniel struck the drums for the last time required in his part of the solo. The instant Calvin finished the solo off by shouting "Yeah!" Zack resumed singing:

_Tutti Frutti, aw rutti  
Tutti Frutti, aw rutti  
Tutti Frutti, aw rutti  
Tutti Frutti, aw rutti  
Tutti Frutti, aw rutti  
Awop-bop-a-loo-mop alop bam boom  
Got a girl, named Daisy,  
She almost drives me crazy  
Got a girl, named Daisy,  
She almost drives me crazy  
She knows how to love me ,  
Yes indeed  
Boy you don't know,  
What she's doing to me  
Tutti Frutti, aw rutti  
Tutti Frutti, aw rutti  
Tutti Frutti, aw rutti  
Tutti Frutti, aw rutti  
Tutti Frutti, aw rutti  
Awop-bop-a-loo-mop alop bam boom_

The instant the performance ended, the other ten gleeks popped up from their seats and roared in applause. Even Charlotte found herself carried away by the skill of the performers, and in particular, Zack and Daniel. Pleased to hear the applause, Zack and Daniel smiled, and bowed to the audience while Calvin raised his fists up in the air and roared triumphantly like a lion. At the sound of his master's roar, Hobbes instinctively howled like a wolf just like he'd been trained to do. At the sound of the triumphant roar and howl, the audience started cheering even louder; except for Charlotte who stared at Calvin with a look that said "Did you seriously just do that?" Calvin, however, was so excited by how impressed the audience had been with the performance that he didn't even notice.

Mr. Schuester also clapped with the other gleeks. "Well done Zack."

"Thank you Mr. Schue," Zack replied with a smile "I thought it was a good favorite of mine that told about myself since in my mind, that song defines my practical Casanova status here at school."

"That was a pretty good performance dude," Dunlap said with a smile brightening his bone-white face.

"That it was," Darren exclaimed in agreement "but I really enjoyed that duel instrumental solo of Daniel and Calvin's. I'm not even sure if I could pull off what you did Calvin."

"Thanks," Calvin stated with a broad smile.

"You've got that right Darren," Susan said with a smile. "Very few people that I know of in the entire world could beat Calvin in skillful guitar playing."

Almost as if in agreement with what Susan had said about his master, Hobbes barked once. The timing was so perfect in that regard that even Calvin found himself wondering if it truly was just a coincidence like most experts would claim.

"I can definitely agree with you there Susan," said Mr. Schuester. "But I am also willing to admit that you were equally impressive on the drums Daniel. Finn Hudson would be very proud of you doing so well on the drums like he did."

Daniel blushed at the praise, and at the mentioning of his biggest idol, and he managed to say, "Thanks. It was a pleasure to play the drums today."

"You were amazing," said Diana, her eyes ablaze with admiration. "Unbelievable in fact. You were just that good."

Daniel smiled widely at the compliment, and replied to Diana, "Thank you. I'm happy that you found it impressive." His smile widened even further as he said this, as did Diana's.

At the sight of all this, Charlotte growled to herself, "That's it. This has gone on long enough; I am going to show that piece of garbage how much more worthy of him I am with a performance that will send him right my way."

Directly after Calvin and Daniel sat down, Charlotte abruptly got up from her chair and walked resolutely over to where Zack had been standing right as Zack was about to make his way towards his own chair. Shoving Zack violently towards his chair, Charlotte took her place where Zack had been standing. Turning around to face her fellow gleeks, she bluntly stated, "I have a song," before then glaring at Daniel and curtly continuing, "And this is gonna rock your world." At the sound of those words, Daniel clenched his fists and glared angrily at Charlotte while Diana gulped and lowered her head nervously at the sight of the mean look Charlotte was directing towards Daniel and herself.

Charlotte whipped her head in the direction of Brad the piano player, and asked, "You do remember what song I told you I'd be performing this week right?"

Brad gritted his teeth, and said, "Yes."

"Good, have the band hit it; now."

Reluctantly, Brad signaled for the rest of the band to prepare themselves to perform the music for the song Charlotte was about to sing. Reluctantly, the band members got out the sheet music that Charlotte had made a point to have them prepare, and got themselves ready to perform.

Charlotte smiled, for she was ready to heat things up with her skill at singing and dancing in this performance. Well, almost that is. With a smug grin, she picked up two microphones lying on top of Brad's piano and tossed one of them to Daniel. Daniel scowled at Charlotte, but the cheerleader had already turned her head away to check to make sure the band was ready. While Charlotte was looking away, Daniel passed the microphone Charlotte had given him over to Zack. Zack smiled, happy to help his pal. Charlotte then gave an arrogant snap of her fingers at the band. The band played the opening musical notes, and the performance began:

_Hot and dangerous  
If you're one of us, then roll with us  
'Cause we make the hipsters fall in love  
And we've got our hot-pants on and up  
And yes of course we does, we running this town just like a club  
And no, you don't wanna mess with us  
Got Jesus on my necklace  
I've got that glitter on my eyes  
Stockings ripped all up the side  
Looking sick and sexyfied  
So let's go-o-o (Let's go!)  
Tonight we're going har har-har ha-ha-hard  
Just like the world is our our-our our-our-ours  
We're tearin' it apart part-part pa-pa-part  
You know we're superstars, we are who we are!  
We're dancing like we're dum dum-dum dum-dum-dumb  
Our bodies go num num-num num-num-numb  
We'll be forever youn youn-youn youn-youn-young  
You know we're superstars, we are who we are!  
DJ turn it up  
It's about damn time to live it up  
I'm so sick of being so serious  
It's making my brain delirious!  
I'm just talkin' truth  
I'm telling you 'bout the shit we do  
We're sellin' our clothes, sleepin' in cars  
Dressin' it down, hittin' on dudes (HARD!)  
I've got that glitter on my eyes  
Stockings ripped all up the side  
Looking sick and sexyfied  
So let's go-o-o (Let's go!)  
Tonight we're going har har-har ha-ha-hard  
Just like the world is our our-our our-our-ours  
We're tearin' it apart part-part pa-pa-part  
You know we're superstars, we are who we are!  
We're dancing like we're dum dum-dum dum-dum-dumb  
Our bodies go num num-num num-num-numb  
We'll be forever youn youn-youn youn-youn-young  
You know we're superstars, we are who we are!  
DJ turn it up (up up up up up up)  
DJ turn it up (up up up up up up)  
(Zack) DJ turn it up (up up up up up up)  
(Charlotte) DJ turn it up (up up up up up up uuuup)  
(Dance Solo)_

_Tonight we're going har har-har ha-ha-hard  
Just like the world is our our-our our-our-ours  
We're tearin' it apart part-part pa-pa-part  
You know we're superstars, we are who we are!  
We're dancing like we're dum dum-dum dum-dum-dumb  
Our bodies go num num-num num-num-numb  
We'll be forever youn youn-youn youn-youn-young  
You know we're superstars, we are who we are!_

Directly after Charlotte finished her performance, she looked meaningfully at the audience, her eyes showing her anticipation for a big applause. Zack almost immediately started clapping enthusiastically. However, when he noticed how the other 11 gleeks and the German shepherd sitting around him were staring at him, and that he was the only one clapping, he awkwardly slowed down before eventually stopping altogether.

At the sight of the icy reception she was receiving, Charlotte's shoulders slumped, and she made a facial expression that clearly expressed her distaste at how disrespectful her peers were now being. "Seriously?" she asked herself in her mind. "Of all twelve of the other students here, that intelligent idiot basketball boy is the only one who has the decency to clap and applaud as is proper for a performance by myself."

As she had that thought, she became even angrier when she realized that Daniel had remained completely silent as well. In fact, now that she thought about it, despite how she'd made it clear that she had wanted him to sing that one line that required a masculine voice, he'd had the nerve to throw it off and have Zack do it instead.

"Well aren't you people going to clap?" she asked in a tone that sounded as if she were shouting.

Hurriedly, Zack resumed his clapping, and the other students also clapped. Unfortunately, compared to Zack, the clapping of the other gleeks, and even of Mr. Schuester, was ten times slower. Even Hobbes's tail thumping on the floor sounded like it would be more suitable in accompaniment with a death march.

Glaring, Charlotte snarled, said, "You will rue this day," to her audience in general, and stormed off back to her seat. The instant Charlotte reached her seat, she sat down resolutely and folded her arms across her chest angrily. Due to how angry she now was, in combination with how they had a feeling what this favorite song of hers said about her personality, the other gleeks didn't even bother asking her to tell them about it.

The minute Charlotte took her seat, Dunlap stood up, his face agleam with a smile showing how enthusiastic he was to now have the opportunity to dispel the sour mood that had been induced by Charlotte's performance and attitude. Darren also got up, his guitar already at the ready.

Taking his place at the center of the glee choir room, Dunlap clasped his hands together, his red eyes agleam and his pale face alight with his smile, and enthusiastically stated, "Alright everyone. Well, on that note, I hope you're ready for some fun, because that's what you're about to get!"

"You've got that right Dunlap; it's time to show these guys a reason to cheer!" Darren chimed in.

The instant Darren finished saying this, he excitedly said, "Hit it dudes!" The band immediately started playing the opening notes to a song. Smiling still, the two boys tapped their feet a few times in preparation, and then sang:

_(Dunlap)_

_Yeah  
Ahh  
Lookin right  
Wishin we could rewind  
Changin every wrong to right  
That ya see  
If you could  
Don't you think that you would  
Make your world  
Just like you want it to be  
(Darren)_

_Now it's never too late  
There's a will  
There's a way  
Gotta stay in the game  
Go the distance  
Cuz you live and you learn  
That it takes a lot of work  
But you win in the end  
With persistence  
(Dunlap and Darren)_

_Mix it up  
Get it right  
Go for another try  
But you  
Run it back again (Darren: run it back hey)  
Replay  
Hit rewind  
This time you do it right  
But you  
Run it back again  
Run it back again  
Run it back again  
(Dunlap)_

_Try again  
Never wait around  
Cause every minute counts  
If you had the time  
What would you do with it  
Would you change  
Show me what would rearrange  
If you got the puzzle right  
How would the pieces fit  
(Darren)_

_Now it's never too late  
There's a will  
There's a way  
You could save the day  
Like a hero  
Cause you live and you learn  
That it takes a lot a work  
Hope that nothings gonna stop  
Oh no  
Go (ohh)  
(Dunlap and Darren)_

_Mix it up  
Get it right  
Go for another try  
But you  
Run it back again  
(Darren: Run it back again)  
Replay  
Hit rewind  
This time you do it right  
But you  
Run it back again  
Run it back again  
(Dunlap)_

_On your mark  
Get set  
Let's go  
Oh you can make it happen if you want it to  
(Darren)_

_Tick tock  
Time to rock you know  
the futures up to you  
One more time now  
(Dunlap and Darren)_

_Mix it up  
Get it right  
Go for another try  
But you  
Run it back again (Darren: back again)  
Replay  
Hit rewind  
This time you do it right  
But you  
Run it back again  
Mix it up  
Get it right  
Go for another try  
But you  
Run it back again (Darren: run it back back back again)  
Replay  
Hit rewind  
This time you do it right  
But you  
Run it back again  
Run it back again_

Dunlap bowed, his metal legs creaking under the weight of his leaning upper body, then straightened up again. Darren also bowed, his matted crimson hair hanging down and his hands still tightly grasping the guitar. Upon standing straight up again, Dunlap and Darren were pleased to see the other glee club members except for Charlotte stand up and applaud his performance. "Then again," they thought to themselves "what do we care what that hag thinks?"

"Good job both of you," Mr. Schuester said approvingly. "May I ask why you both sang this as a duet?"

Dunlap responded immediately, "I feel as if I can personally relate to the narrator of this song. People have often teased me in the past and present for my being an albino, and it worsened the day after the accident in which I lost my legs, had to have them amputated, and got them replaced with prosthetics. Sometimes in the past, it reached the point where I was wishing I could be normal like the others. However, I instead chose to keep moving forward and not let the jeering get me down, and the song that inspired me was paradoxically this song."

Darren then chimed in, "My father is a Scottish immigrant, and my mother is American. As if that weren't enough, my parents also lost their home when I was six. They actually had to home school me until near the end of what's considered my eighth grade year until my parents managed to land a solid job and get their financial futures back in line. Now, I've let that experience, and this song fuel me to keep moving forward. In a way, this song, and our similar situations regarding why it's one of our favorites is the reason why Dunlap and I are good friends." Immediately after Darren said this, he grinned at the memory of how he'd first met and befriended Dunlap after defending him from some bullies here at McKinley on the first day of their freshman year.

Mr. Schuester nodded, his face showing his approval, and stated, "Very nice and inspiring."

"Thanks," Darren and Dunlap said at the same time.

"You're welcome," Mr. Schuester replied. Directly after the boys returned to their seats, he called out, "Is there anyone else who'd like to perform today?"

At the sound of this question, Amber and Naomi raised their hands.

"We also have a duet favorite song that we'd like to perform," Amber replied when Mr. Schuester called upon her. Naomi nodded in agreement, an eager smile on her face.

"Go on ahead then," Mr. Schuester said with a smile. Smiling, the two girls complied and took their places at the area where Darren and Dunlap had been just a minute or so before. Of course, Naomi had to be guided over to the spot by Amber since Naomi's cane could only do so much work at determining exactly where to stop.

After the two girls were ready for their performance, Amber looked at Brad and winked. Brad nodded, it seemed that this matter had been discussed beforehand, and started playing a tune. At the sound of the music, Darren and Dunlap raised their eyebrows in anticipation, for they had a pretty good feeling that they knew what song their two close friends were about to sing. Sure enough, the performance went like this:

(Naomi)

_Hurry up and wait  
So close, but so far away  
Everything that you've always dreamed of  
Close enough for you to taste  
But you just can't touch  
_(Amber)_  
You wanna show the world, but no one knows your name yet  
Wonder when and where and how you're gonna make it  
You know you can if you get the chance  
In your face as the door keeps slamming  
Now you're feeling more and more frustrated  
And you're getting all kind of impatient waiting  
_(Naomi and Amber)_  
We live and we learn to take  
One step at a time  
There's no need to rush  
It's like learning to fly  
Or falling in love  
It's gonna happen when it's  
Supposed to happen and we  
Find the reasons why  
One step at a time  
_(Amber)_  
You believe and you doubt  
You're confused, you got it all figured out  
Everything that you always wished for  
Could be yours, should be yours, would be yours  
If they only knew  
_(Naomi)_  
You wanna show the world, but no one knows your name yet  
Wonder when and where and how you're gonna make it  
You know you can if you get the chance  
In your face as the door keeps slamming  
Now you're feeling more and more frustrated  
And you're getting all kind of impatient waiting  
_(Naomi and Amber)_  
We live and we learn to take  
One step at a time  
There's no need to rush  
It's like learning to fly  
Or falling in love  
It's gonna happen when it's  
Supposed to happen and we  
Find the reasons why  
One step at a time  
_(Naomi)_  
When you can't wait any longer  
But there's no end in sight  
when you need to find the strength_

(Amber)_  
It's your faith that makes you stronger  
The only way you get there  
Is one step at a time  
_(Naomi and Amber)_  
Take one step at a time  
There's no need to rush  
It's like learning to fly  
Or falling in love  
It's gonna happen when it's  
Supposed to happen and we  
Find the reasons why  
One step at a time  
_(Naomi and Amber)_  
One step at a time  
There's no need to rush  
It's like learning to fly  
Or falling in love  
It's gonna happen when it's  
Supposed to happen and we  
Find the reasons why  
One step at a time_

The instant the song was over, the two girls looked eagerly towards the audience of their fellow gleeks. They smiled as Mr. Schuester and their fellow gleeks, excluding Charlotte of course Amber noticed with a smirk, stood up and cheered. To Amber, the loudest one among the audience was Darren, his yellow eyes (a color resulting from contact lenses) gleaming golden with delight as he enthusiastically applauded. Amber's smile widened as she saw how truly happy she'd made Darren with her performance.

As Amber smiled towards Darren, she felt a tap on her left shoulder. She turned her head in time for Naomi to whisper, "Is Dunlap impressed?"

Amber smiled, rubbed her fingers through her golden hair, and whispered back, "That he is."

Naomi smiled, her opaque blue eyes agleam, as she heard her friend's answer. Of course, the question had merely been a formality, but it never hurt to make sure. Still, it had been a formality none the less. After all, in her mind and ears, she could feel every encouraging and cheerful word coming out of her caring albino friend's mouth just as easily as she could feel her soft copper hair.

Mr. Schuester eventually finished clapping, and the other gleeks who were clapping eventually followed suit. Darren and Dunlap were the very last to stop clapping. When they finally stopped, no one noticed Charlotte dismissively rolled her eyes, still very much in her funk over the icy reception for her own performance that day.

"That was a wonderful performance," Mr. Schuester stated. "May I ask why you chose that particular song?"

Amber took a deep breath, for even among this group of people that was now starting to become like a second family to her, the topic she was about to raise was not a comfortable topic for her and Naomi to discuss.

Eventually, Amber managed to say, "In our freshman year, before Naomi and I met and befriended Dunlap and Darren, we ended up in relationships with two guys from the hockey team. This turned out to be the worst mistake ever, for the hockey player I ended up with was only interested in using me as a toy for his sexual pleasures, and Naomi's former boyfriend took advantage of her blindness and abused her. Things got better when we eventually met, got to know, and confide our secrets to Darren and Dunlap. With their help, we managed to break off our relationships with the hockey players, a task made considerably easier by how much muscle they provided when the two dorks tried to beat us up and threaten us into remaining their girlfriends. With their help, and our willingness to be strong and move on, we overcame that horrible ordeal, but even after finding someone better, it takes time for actual love to develop. We've learned this lesson the hard way, and that's why we chose to sing this song today."

"She's right," Naomi chimed in. "I remember the pain I felt sliding down the stairs that I fell down when my first boyfriend tripped me. I remember the terror I felt when that creep stole and hid my cane and left me to blindly wander through his house at the mercy of him and his friends during a party. I remember the names they called me; the wingless bat, the overgrown mole, the hag, the girl with acid spilled on her eyes at birth, and much worse. It took all the strength I had, combined with the support from Dunlap and my other friends to escape, and now that's all behind me, and so is Amber's situation. We were already good friends before then, but the experiences we had with those hockey players as our boyfriends made us feel like sisters, and now we have Dunlap and Darren, the greatest friends anyone could ask for to thank for us being able to have the happy lives we now have, and for that, we thank them."

At the sound of all this, Darren and Dunlap smiled, touched by how much the two girls held them in such high regard. The other gleeks, excluding Charlotte, also appeared touched by this heartfelt confession. They knew that it had taken guts to unearth this horrific monster in their memories of the past, and they were proud of them for being able to do so.

Mr. Schuester, naturally, was also impressed by the story, and he said, "Well I am glad that you managed to get out of that situation, and to be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if those two hockey players you once dated end up in jail someday. This is truly a story of the ages in this school."

"Thank you," Amber stated in response.

"You're welcome," Mr. Schuester responded with a smile.

Smiling in return, Amber put her hand on Naomi's shoulder and helped her over to her chair as they returned to their seats.

"Let's give it up for Amber and Naomi!" Raj shouted, and the other gleeks were quick to agree.

Directly after Amber and Naomi took their seats, Darren and Dunlap promptly gave their respective friends a hug and encouraged and commended them for the brave thing they'd just done in telling about their horrific past experiences. The two girls could only smile weakly and thank their friends over and over again.

Eventually, Mr. Schuester managed to say, "On that note, does anybody other than me think that now might be a good time to end today's session? In light of what Amber and Naomi have just done, I'm not sure if any other performance today can really top that off."

At this, the other gleeks promptly agreed. The way they saw it, the confessions that Amber and Naomi had just made were more than enough reason for the session to end. The least anyone could do now was for everybody to have some time to reflect, especially the two who'd confessed.

**And just like that, chapter the 16th ends. Coming up next, the weekly assignment continues, and the other gleeks successfully complete it in time for an old New Directions tradition! :)**


	17. Just Can't Wait to Win

**Here is the second chapter of today's double update! I hope you enjoy! As promised, all the remaining current members of the New Directions fulfill the week's assignment, and thus their friendship bond is strengthened. Then again, there are some friendships that aren't as strong among two love triangles among the New Directions. How will everything work out for the gleeks who still need to fulfill the assignment? And for that matter, will they fulfill it in time for a much enjoyed New Directions tradition? Read on and find out! On a similar note, I hope that some of you readers are Disney fans like I am, because you're about to receive a good dosage of Disney music magic!**

**Last time I checked, I don't own Glee.**

**Chapter 17:**

**Just Can't Wait to Win**

The very next day, Diana was looking through her locker and clearing it out for the day before heading over to glee club. Throughout the school day, she'd been eagerly looking forward to this day's session of the club, for she couldn't wait to perform the song she'd chosen to perform for the week's assignment.

The song in question was Taylor Swift's _22_. Diana smiled as she thought about her upcoming performance, for Taylor Swift was one of her personal music idols, and she especially enjoyed the idea of singing one of her songs for glee club. She couldn't wait to impress all her friends in the glee club with her performance.

Even as she had the thought, Diana chuckled as she thought about how the other students in the glee club with her were more or less becoming a second family to her. She certainly had to admit that the majority of them had not taken very long to earn places on her friends list at all. One of the first new additions to this list was Zack. Zack, being Daniel's friend, had been more than eager to get to know her a little more. Being the macho, yet charismatic, person he was, it was easy for him to get on Diana's good side to the point of friendship. A similar such person she now knew from the glee club was Raj, a real comedian at heart. In just about every situation, he always knew just the right joke or other form of humor to get everybody happy and settled down.

Diana grinned as she next thought about Cody and Bailey. She certainly had to admit that Cody certainly appeared to have the blood of a ballerina inside him, yet that he was also so humble about his own ability. She also viewed Bailey as a good friend, for she quite liked her spunk and focused drive in accomplishing what she wanted done.

Diana's smile grew wider as she thought of four other new friends of hers that had dug deep into their pasts the previous day. Dunlap, while slightly terrifying in appearance, was actually a wonderful person to be around once people got past his snow white complexion, nightmare making crimson eyes, and robotic legs. Then she thought of Naomi, and how despite her blindness, she wasn't bitter and cynical about her condition and was still friendly at heart. Next she thought of Darren. Admittedly, she did believe that it was rather odd that he wore yellow contacts on his eyes. Still, he was a very friendly boy, and nowhere near as ill-tempered as she would have expected considering how his father was Scottish. And as for Amber, Diana couldn't help but sigh in admiration as she thought of how brave she and Naomi had been in confessing about their living nightmare experiences with their former boyfriends in the McKinley High hockey team. She could certainly admit that she could see with perfect clarity how much of a good friend she was to Darren, and vice versa.

Finally, she smiled as she thought about Calvin and Susan. She remembered all too well how she had not really known what to think of Calvin before she'd joined the New Directions, expect for that he was a very good friend to Susan from what she'd heard of him. Now, after having spent the last few months getting to know him, she had to admit that despite his slight temper control problems and the unusual behaviors that he engaged in every once and a while, he was one of the greatest friends that a person could ask for, especially for Susan. And she had to admit that his dog, Hobbes, was also a pretty lovable and entertaining friend as well; provided he wasn't in a protective rage against anyone or anything that dared try to harm his master that is. As for Susan, Diana smiled as she thought about how the already strong friendship they'd had was now at the point that they practically felt like sisters as a result of their time together in the New Directions.

Then she thought about Daniel, and her smile faded slightly. Despite all her time with her other friends in the glee club, she still couldn't get Daniel off her mind. She sighed as she thought of her best friend. Even with all her new friends, she still hadn't found dealing with this situation she had regarding how she felt about him any easier. Of course, that damned head cheerleader, Charlotte Thornton, wasn't making things any easier.

"Forget about her," Diana yelled to herself in her mind. "Daniel's already made it clear how much he'd rather die than let her hurt me in any way." Still, even as she had these thoughts, she remembered how much more beautiful Charlotte was compared to her. Diana sighed in despair. What was she going to do?

Seconds later, Diana felt a tap on her shoulder, and she heard a voice behind her ask, "Is everything ok?"

Diana looked behind her at the sound of the familiar voice, and saw that Daniel was right behind her. For a second, she was distracted by the sight of him staring right at her from directly behind her. Eventually, she managed to say, "Everything's fine, I'm ok."

"You sure?" Daniel asked, clearly concerned.

Diana nodded nervously, trying her best to convince her friend that she was fine when she herself knew that she wasn't as ok as she was trying to let on.

Daniel shook his head and stated, "Diana, don't worry. Everything will be fine. I won't let anyone hurt you." Then he grasped her by the hand to reassure her. "Come on," he stated with a smile. "Let's get over to the glee choir room. I'm really looking forward to hearing you sing again today." Diana smiled when she heard this, and happily allowed Daniel to escort her down the hallway to the choir room.

. . . . .

When Daniel and Diana walked into the choir room with their hands clasped together, Daniel felt very happy at the contact with his friend, and at the smiles that all his other friends in the glee club were directing towards him and Diana. Of course, Charlotte was glaring at the sight with a murderous look on her face. Daniel grinned when he saw this, for he still enjoyed it when he got to rub his lack of interest in reciprocating her romantic feelings in her face. "Serves her right," he thought to himself as he and Diana took their seats.

With all thirteen students seated, Mr. Schuester greeted them, and then stated, "Alright everyone. I definitely have to say that we've all made some considerable progress on this week's assignment yesterday. In fact, depending on how many people get to perform today, you all might have it completed by the end of today or tomorrow." The gleeks all cheered at the sound of those words.

Mr. Schuester continued, "In fact, this news will be even better because that means that we'll have bigger chances this week of doing our annual boys vs. girls mash-up competition without having to squeeze it into our schedule of Sectionals preparations next week." The gleeks cheered even louder after hearing this.

Smiling, Mr. Schuester finished his speech by saying, "Alright, with that out of the way, who's willing to perform first today?"

Diana stood up and said, "I am."

Daniel gave Diana a thumbs-up. "You go Diana," he whispered under his breath.

Charlotte rolled her eyes, clearly not looking forward to hearing her rival sing.

"Let's hear it then," Mr. Schuester stated before Charlotte had a chance to voice any objections.

Diana smiled, and said, "Alright everyone, this is a song that you all probably will find very familiar. I hope you enjoy it." She then turned her head to Brad and the band players, and winked.

Brad immediately began the first few notes of the song. As Brad played the opening notes, Diana took a deep breath, and when the time was right, sang out:

_It feels like a perfect night to dress up like hipsters  
And make fun of our exes, ah ah, ah ah.  
It feels like a perfect night for breakfast at midnight  
To fall in love with strangers, ah ah, ah ah.  
Yeah,  
We're happy, free, confused, and lonely at the same time  
It's miserable and magical, oh, yeah  
Tonight's the night when we forget about the deadlines  
It's time  
Uh oh!  
I don't know about you  
But I'm feeling 22  
Everything will be alright  
If you keep me next to you  
You don't know about me  
But I'll bet you want to  
Everything will be alright  
If we just keep dancing like we're  
22  
22  
It seems like one of those nights,  
This place is too crowded.  
Too many cool kids, ah ah, ah ah  
It seems like one of those nights,  
We ditch the whole scene and end up dreaming  
Instead of sleeping.  
Yeah,  
We're happy, free, confused, and lonely in the best way  
It's miserable and magical, oh, yeah  
Tonight's the night when we forget about the heartbreaks  
It's time  
Uh oh! (hey!)  
I don't know about you  
But I'm feeling 22  
Everything will be alright  
If you keep me next to you  
You don't know about me  
But I'll bet you want to  
Everything will be alright  
If we just keep dancing like we're  
22 (oh, oh, oh)  
22  
I don't know about you  
22  
22  
It feels like one of those nights,  
We ditch the whole scene.  
It feels like one of those nights,  
We won't be sleeping.  
It feels like one of those nights,  
You look like bad news,  
I gotta have you,  
I gotta have you.  
Oh oh yeah hey!  
I don't know about you  
But I'm feeling 22  
Everything will be alright  
If you keep me next to you  
You don't know about me  
But I'll bet you want to  
Everything will be alright  
If we just keep dancing like we're  
22  
22  
22, yeah, yeah  
22, yeah, yeah, yeah  
It feels like one of those nights,  
We ditch the whole scene  
It feels like one of those nights,  
We won't be sleeping  
It feels like one of those nights,  
You look like bad news,  
I gotta have you,  
I gotta have you._

Diana looked up from the microphone after finishing the song, and was happy to see her friends among the other New Directions members give a hearty applause. The most enthusiastic among them was, of course, Daniel. Diana couldn't help but laugh in pleasure as she saw him rigorously clapping his hands, his stormy gray eyes agleam with awe.

"Now that, Diana, is perfection!" Daniel shouted.

"You got that right Daniel!" Calvin howled in agreement. "That performance would put Taylor Swift to shame! No offense Diana."

Diana smiled at the praise, and responded, "None taken Calvin, but I'm not sure if I'd go that far."

Calvin shrugged, completely unabashed, and replied, "Well yes, I guess saying that would be a little overkill."

The other gleeks laughed at this, and Calvin smiled.

"That was indeed a wonderful performance Diana," Mr. Schuester said. "May I ask why this is one of your favorite songs in regard to your personality?"

Diana took a deep breath, and responded, "Before I joined this club, I had only two friends among the students here; Daniel and Susan. While I always feel happy around them, I also at times felt sad at the same time because I knew that there were times that they couldn't help me, and that I knew that sometimes just two friends isn't enough. The way this song goes sort of describes that kind of situation the way I see it. However, today, quite some months after joining the New Directions, I now have 11 friends among the students here counting Susan and Daniel. The other nine, are right here in this room alongside them.

"Ever since I joined, you guys have always been here for me, and now, we don't have much longer to wait until our very first competition together. I couldn't ask for a better group of friends than all you guys. For that, I am thankful, and I hope very much that we'll still be friends when we're adults."

Daniel, Susan, and the other nine members of the club excluding Charlotte smiled widely at Diana's praise. They were all very happy indeed to have her as their friend.

Mr. Schuester stated with a smile, "Well that's very touching Diana. I am happy that you have more friends now than you used to."

"Thank you," Diana said.

"You're welcome," Mr. Schuester replied. Still smiling, Diana returned to her seat. "Very well then, who's willing to perform next?"

"That would be me," Daniel replied as he got up from his chair and took his place at the same area where Diana had been standing.

"This song is one of my favorites in regard to my personality because I find it very inspiring. Admittedly, some of you might have a fairly strong idea about what you are going to do with your lives after high school. I, however, am not so sure; but I do know that somewhere out there is a very good dream that I know will be the best path for me. If I can keep myself going and stay strong, then I'm bound to find that dream. This song captures that mentality perfectly, which is why I think it is an appropriate choice for my number one favorite song."

Upon finishing his explanation, Daniel nodded towards Brad. Brad nodded back and began playing the opening notes of the song. At the sound of the words, Calvin grinned, for he had seen enough Disney movies in his collection to instantly recognize the song his friend was about to sing on sound. Sure enough, Daniel sang:

_I have often dreamed  
Of a far-off place  
Where a great warm welcome  
Will be waiting for me  
Where the crowds will cheer  
When they see my face  
And a voice keeps saying  
This is where I'm meant to be  
I will find my way  
I can go the distance  
I'll be there someday  
If I can be strong  
I know ev'ry mile  
Will be worth my while  
I would go most anywhere  
To feel like I belong  
I am on my way  
I can go the distance  
I don't care how far  
Somehow I'll be strong  
I know ev'ry mile  
Will be worth my while  
I would go most anywhere  
To find where I belong  
I will beat the odds  
I can go the distance  
I will face the world  
Fearless, proud, and strong  
I will please the gods  
I can go the distance  
Till I find my hero's welcome  
Right where I belong_

Daniel bowed upon finishing his performance, and smiled when he heard the applause coming from the audience in front of him. Admittedly, he was not happy that Charlotte was applauding with the other gleeks, but he didn't care. As long as all his actual friends among the club members were applauding, he was perfectly happy. Of course, the fact that Mr. Schue also appeared to be applauding made him even happier.

"Wonderful performance Daniel," Mr. Schuester stated.

"Thanks," Daniel responded.

Susan stood up. "May I perform next?"

"Go on ahead."

Grinning with anticipation, Susan got up from her seat and made her way over to where Daniel was standing. Daniel, knowing that his time had passed, got out of the way and returned to his seat.

Susan took her place, turned to face her fellow gleeks, and said, "Alright everyone, the song I'm about to sing is a song I believe to be one of the most touching I've ever heard. I find this song to be that way because of my friendship with Calvin. Being autistic, his life isn't always the easiest to a much higher degree than it can be for neurotypicals. This song reminds me of how I've always been there to help Calvin, cheer him up, and give him inspiration to go on when it's needed. I'd like all of you to know how this song makes me feel, so I'm going to perform it for you right now."

Calvin smiled warmly, and nodded his head, touched by what Susan was about to do once again in his honor. The other gleeks did the same, except of course Charlotte.

Brad, without even receiving a cue, began playing the opening notes for the song Susan was about to sing. When the time was right, Susan beautifully sang:

_Don't lose your way  
with each passing day  
You've come so far  
Don't throw it away  
Live believing  
Dreams are for weaving  
Wonders are waiting to start  
Live your story  
Faith, hope and glory  
Hold to the truth in your heart  
If we hold on together  
I know our dreams will never die  
Dreams see us through to forever  
Where clouds roll by, for you and I  
Souls in the wind  
Must learn how to bend  
Seek out a star  
Hold on to the end  
Valley...Mountain  
There is a fountain  
Washes our tears all away  
Words are swaying  
Someone is praying  
Please let us come home to stay  
If we hold on together  
I know our dreams will never die  
Dreams see us through to forever  
Where clouds roll by  
For you and I  
When we are out there in the dark  
We'll dream about the sun  
In the dark we'll feel the light  
Warm our hearts...everyone  
If we hold on together  
I know our dreams will never die  
Dreams see us through to forever  
As high as souls can fly  
The clouds roll by  
For you and I_

The applause that followed was enough to make Susan wonder if the ceiling would cave in. Still, she instantly smiled when she saw the joyful look on Calvin's face, for she knew that her best friend deserved to be happy.

"Wonderful performance Susan," Mr. Schuester said with a smile.

"Thank you," Susan replied with a smile.

"Oh that is such an understatement Mr. Schue. That was beyond wonderful! Stupendous in fact!"

Susan grinned, and nodded her head from side to side. Of course Calvin would believe that. Still smiling, Susan returned to her seat, and promptly received a huge hug from Calvin. Hobbes, sensing his master's pleasure, affectionately rubbed his head up against Susan's right leg as if to congratulate her for making his master happy. Touched by the gesture, Susan gently scratched the German shepherd on the top of his head, and the dog panted in gratitude as a result.

Eventually, Calvin finished hugging Susan, and got up from his seat to get ready for his own performance.

Susan, sensing the happiness in Calvin's stride, smiled widely as she realized that she had a pretty good feeling what song Calvin had chosen for his performance.

The instant Calvin took his place where his glee club peers had stood for their performances, he turned around to face the audience and proudly stated, "Alright everyone, the song I'm about to perform for you all is a magnificent tune from a truly timeless classic that just happens to be my favorite movie. In regard to myself, since it is likely that we will all be like royalty when it comes to how popular we'll be if we win our upcoming competitions, I believe this song captures perfectly how I am eagerly looking forward to win. Admittedly some lines will require you to join in. However, I believe that the majority, if not all, of you will know this song well enough that this won't be a problem. You guys ready?"

"Yes!"

"I said, are you guys ready?"

"Yes!" the other gleeks excluding Charlotte shouted with even more enthusiasm.

"Then let's do this! Hit it boys!"

The band promptly complied, and the song began with a single beat of the drums. As the opening notes of the song progressed, Calvin sensed the anticipation of the eleven fellow gleeks that he considered his friends as they recognized the song, and smiled as he prepared himself for the time in which he was due to begin singing. After a while, he happily sang, and the performance went something like this:

_(Calvin)  
I'm gonna be a mighty king  
So enemies beware_

_(Daniel)  
Well, I've never seen a king of beasts  
With quite so little hair  
(Calvin)  
I'm gonna be the main event  
Like no king was before  
I'm brushing up on looking down  
I'm working on my roar!  
(Zack )  
Thus far, a rather uninspiring thing  
(Calvin)  
Oh, I just can't wait to be king  
(Calvin)  
No one saying, "Do this"  
(Dunlap)  
Now when I said that, I-  
(Susan)  
No one saying, "Be there"  
(Darren)  
What I meant was-  
(Calvin)  
No one saying, "Stop that!"  
(Raj)  
Look, what you don't realize-  
(Calvin and Susan)  
No one saying, "See here!"  
(Charlotte)  
Now see here!  
(Calvin)  
Free to run around all day  
(Diana)  
Well, that's definitely out  
(Calvin)  
Free to do it all my way  
(Instrumental solo)  
(Daniel)  
I think it's time that you and I  
Arranged a heart to heart  
(Calvin)  
Kings don't need advice  
From little hornbills for a start  
(Daniel)  
If this is where the monarchy is headed  
Count me out  
Out of service, out of Africa  
I wouldn't hang about  
This child is getting wildly out of wing  
(Calvin)  
Oh, I just can't wait to be king  
(Instrumental Solo)_

_(Calvin)  
Everybody look left  
Everybody look right  
Everywhere you look I'm  
Standin' in the spotlight!  
(Charlotte)  
Not yet!  
(Chorus)  
Let every creature go for broke and sing  
Let's hear it in the herd and on the wing  
It's gonna be King Simba's finest fling  
(Calvin)  
Oh, I just can't wait to be king_

_Oh, I just can't wait to be king  
Oh, I just can't wait (Chorus: just can't wait!) to be king!_

Immediately after Calvin finished the last line of the song, he did an artful dance twirl before letting out a lion-like roar the instant the music ended. The audience roared out their applause, and Hobbes let out his wolf-like howl in his own bestial form of applause.

"Now that was a roaring success!" Mr. Schuester shouted out with his glee obvious in his voice.

Calvin smiled, and replied, "Thank you Mr. Schue."

"You're welcome."

Unfortunately, before anyone else could perform that day, the bell signaling the end of the day went off. It was now time for everyone on campus to leave. "Same time tomorrow everyone!" Mr. Schuester yelled out as the gleeks hurriedly gathered up their supplies and left. Of course, Mr. Schuester hadn't really needed to say that, for all the gleeks were already intending perfectly well to come back the next day.

. . . . .

Cody Nakamura was completely calm as he cleared out his locker after his last class the next day. He was looking forward to performing one of his two favorite songs. In fact, now that he thought about it, maybe he'd have time to perform both. After all, Raj, Bailey, and himself were the only members of the glee club now who hadn't yet completed their part of the week's assignment. He smiled as he had the thought, for with only three gleeks counting himself left to perform for the week's assignment, he probably had a pretty good chance of performing two songs today, especially if he performed last, and he'd always enjoyed both _Celebration_ and _Boogie Wonderland_.

Unfortunately, his plans for singing both of his two favorite songs of all time that day were thrown out the window when he turned from his locker and saw Bailey and Raj standing right in front of him. At the sight of the two of them standing so closely together in front of him, Cody couldn't help but groan and slump his shoulders. He'd always felt jealousy for Raj long before the Indian American boy had become Bailey's boyfriend. Even with the relationship broken off, he still disliked Raj very much indeed. Now, seeing him and Bailey in such close proximity, he couldn't help but feel his old bitterness resurfacing.

Raj smiled when he saw the dejected look on Cody's face. "Serves him right," he thought to himself "Bailey is mine. Sooner or later, I will have her back."

Bailey, who had not noticed Raj's smile, said to Cody with a smile of her own, "Good afternoon Cody. How are things?"

Cody made a slight grin through his gritted teeth, and replied, "Going well. I was just about to head off to the choir room for today's meeting of the glee club."

Raj chimed in, "Well that's good. That's exactly what Bailey and I were just about to do as well. Today we were thinking about the three of us singing _Celebration_ together! What do you say to that?" Even as he said this, his smug grin told Cody that he was hoping that Cody would choose not to sing with him and Bailey in this upcoming performance.

Cody glared at Raj. "Forget it pal," he snarled to himself in his mind. "I am not going to let you have any satisfaction in that regard." His mind made up, he said with a wolfish smile, "I think that sounds like an amazing idea. That is one of my favorite songs after all. But maybe that's why you and Bailey chose it huh?"

When he saw Raj's smug grin turn into an indignant glare at the sound of the words, Cody smiled smugly back in return. "Serves you right," Cody whispered under his breath.

Bailey, who had heard the underlying tone in Cody's words and what he'd muttered under his breath, turned her head to Raj and said, "Raj, could you give me and Cody a minute alone? There's something I'd like to discuss with him that I'd prefer you not hear."

Raj spread his hands out in a peaceful gesture, and stated, "Very well, I understand your need for privacy. I'll be right down in the opposite hallway to my right down this hall." Smiling still, Raj turned around and walked back down the way he and Bailey had come before turning down the hallway opening that went to Cody's left.

The minute Raj had left down that hall, Bailey leaned over to Cody and whispered, "Cody, I know that you don't like Raj very much anymore considering the way things were between him and I in the past. But I still consider him a friend, so please try to be a little nicer to him."

Cody bitterly whispered back, "Why, so that he can take advantage of me by rubbing in my face how he's going to have you back sooner or later? I don't think so."

Bailey sighed, and stated, "Look Cody, when Raj originally decided on a group performance of _Celebration_, he wanted it to be a duet between me and him. I was very lucky that I convinced him to let me give you a chance to perform it with us. Can you please at least go on truce long enough for that?"

Cody, admittedly, was very surprised to hear this. He had not expected this. He had thought that Raj had thought of having him be a part of their performance just so he could have an opportunity to rub in his face how he confident he was in his eventually getting back together with Bailey. Now, apparently Raj hadn't even wanted to include his rival in the performance and had only conceded to allow him to have a chance at it because of Bailey.

Cody stood, dumbfounded as he processed the information. "I guess I can," he stated after what seemed like an eternity.

Bailey sighed in relief, and responded, "Good, thank you. If you had refused, believe me, Raj would have never let me hear the end of it. You wouldn't believe how relieved I am that you accepted."

"Anything to make you happy Bailey," Cody replied with a smile.

"That's good to hear. Come on, let's go back for Raj and get our buts over to the choir room. We don't want to keep our other friends waiting."

. . . . .

Raj, Bailey, and Cody stood confidently up in front of the other ten students in the glee club, smiles on their faces as they mentally prepared themselves for their performance.

Raj eventually stated to the audience assembled before them, "Alright everyone, as you know, this week's assignment was basically a way for us all to get into character right?"

The fellow gleeks agreed, and Bailey continued, "Well considering that the three of us here are particularly close friends, we thought it would be in our character to sing this song we're about to perform as a trio."

At the sound of those words Cody turned his head and glared at Raj. Raj grinned smugly, and mouthed, "She is telling the truth you know." Cody scowled, but in the back of his mind, he knew that Raj was right. Before the whole drama involving Bailey, the three of them had indeed been like peas in a pod when it came to their friendship.

Bailey elbowed Cody in the chest, and Cody promptly realized that it was his cue to speak. He hurriedly stated, "That's right everyone, and we hope that this captures perfectly how much of in a mood we are to celebrate both our upcoming first competition together and how we have all become such good friends."

"Couldn't have said it better myself Cody," Bailey chimed in with a smile before she turned to Brad and winked. Brad promptly began playing the opening notes for _Celebration_. Smiling, Bailey started whipping her head from side to side, her dreads flying. Cody and Raj tapped their feet repeatedly on the floor. When the trio began their performance almost seconds later, it went something like this:

_(All)Yahoo!  
(Raj)Celebration  
(All)Yahoo!  
(Raj)This is your celebration  
(All)Celebrate good times, come on!  
(Cody)(Let's celebrate)  
(All) Celebrate good times, come on!  
(Cody)(Let's celebrate)  
(Bailey)There's a party goin' on right here  
A celebration to last throughout the years  
So bring your good times and your laughter too  
(Raj and Cody)We gonna celebrate your party with you  
(Bailey) Come on now,_

_(All)Celebration  
(Cody)Let's all celebrate and have a good time  
(All)Celebration  
(Raj)We gonna celebrate and have a good time  
(Bailey)It's time to come together  
It's up to you, what's your pleasure?  
(All)Everyone around the world come on!  
(All)Yahoo!  
(Bailey)It's a celebration  
(All)Yahoo!  
(All)Celebrate good times, come on!  
(Cody)(It's a celebration)  
(All)Celebrate good times, come on!  
(Cody)(Let's celebrate)  
(Cody)We're gonna have a good time tonight  
Let's celebrate, it's all right  
We're gonna have a good time tonight  
Let's celebrate, it's all right, baby  
(Cody)We're gonna have a good time tonight  
(Raj and Bailey)(Celebration)  
(Cody)Let's celebrate, it's all right  
We're gonna have a good time tonight  
(Raj and Bailey)(Celebration)  
Let's celebrate, it's all right  
(All)Yahoo!  
Yahoo!  
(All)Celebrate good times, come on!  
(Raj)(Let's celebrate)  
(All)Celebrate good times, come on!  
(Cody)(It's a celebration)  
(All)Celebrate good times, come on!  
(Raj)(Let's celebrate)  
(Bailey)(Come on and celebrate tonight)  
(Cody and Raj)Celebrate good times, come on!  
(Baily)('Cause everything's gonna be alright, let's celebrate)  
(All)Celebrate good times, come on!  
(Cody)(Let's celebrate)  
(All)Celebrate good times, come on!_

Cody, Bailey, and Raj turned their heads expectantly towards their fellow gleeks, eagerly anticipating their reaction. To their relief, and pleasure, every single one of their fellow glee club members apart from Charlotte promptly started clapping after five seconds; though to the three performers it seemed like an eternity before the applause began.

"Now that, is a real show stopper," Mr. Schuester said with a happy smile on his face.

"Thank you Mr. Schuester," the three friends all said at the same time.

Cody and Raj promptly stared each other in the eyes in surprise at how they and Bailey had said the exact same phrase at the same time, just like had often happened in the past. As they had the thought, they began to wonder whether or not they might be better off ending their rivalry.

Then Bailey said, "Well, I see the old camaraderie is starting to come back," and the two boys immediately raised their eyebrows at each other. Maybe for now they had been just a little too quick to forgive each other. The same message passed between them mentally: "Let's wait a little longer before we start considering each other more than convenient allies."

The two boys turned to face Bailey, their faces contorted into what looked like a mix between a grin and a grimace. Cody then stated, "For now, since we're on truce, let's just say that Raj and I are allies of convenience. In time, we might be good friends like we used to, or we might be enemies."

"You took the words right out of my mouth," Raj said out of the corner of his mouth.

"Well let's hope that you can keep this truce going on for a little while longer, because we're all going to have to work together in order to win Sectionals."

At the sound of these words, Raj and Cody looked each other in the eyes. In that instant, they realized that Mr. Schuester was right. They were going to have to work together if they were to have any chance of winning at Sectionals.

Eventually, the two boys turned their heads back to Mr. Schuester, and they both said at the same time, "Done."

Mr. Schuester smiled when he heard the two boys agree to keep their truce strong until at least after Sectionals. He'd had plenty of experience with love triangles among his past students, and admittedly in his own experiences in life. He knew that it would really take a lot of effort for these two boys to keep their emotions in check for the good of their friends in the glee club.

"Well now it's time to give them another reason to work together," he thought to himself as he watched Bailey, Cody, and Raj return to their seats. Once the three students had taken their seats, he gave a clap of his hands and turned around to face the glee club. "Alright everyone," he stated. "Now that Bailey, Cody, and Raj have finished their work for the week's assignment, it is now time for us all to get our competitive streak all revved up and raring to go! Who's ready for a mash-up competition?"

The gleeks all cheered at the sound of the question. "Bring it on!" Dunlap yelled, his ruby colored eyes ablaze with excitement.

Mr. Schuester smiled, and continued, "Alright then. Now for those of you who haven't heard the stories about this competition from past members, you are all going to split up into two groups. One group shall consist of the boys in this club while the other shall consist of the girls. The two of you shall each perform a mash-up. After both groups have performed, I shall judge your performances and decide on a winner. Sound like fun?" The glee club cheered in the affirmative.

"Good to hear," Mr. Schuester responded happily. With a clap of his hands, he gestured to the opposite sides of the room. "Boys to my left, girls to my right," he stated calmly. Within seconds, all thirteen members of the club had taken their places. "Good job everyone. Let the games begin!"

**And so today's double update ends. I hope you enjoy! Please R&R, seriously I need my reviews.**

**Coming up next: The New Directions boys and girls compete head to head in this year's annual New Directions mash-up competition! Which team will do better? And can the New Directions successfully outwit a brand new evil idea that Charlotte cooks up? Find out on the next update! :)**


	18. The Mash-Up Competition

**I'm back with the next chapter! I actually meant to post this yesterday, but my schedule threw a curveball, so I had to wait until today. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter, which just happens to feature the newer New Directions members experience the New Directions annual mash-up competition for the first time!**

**Just in case you forgot, I do not own Glee. And I certainly don't any songs used in this story, whether they be actual songs, or songs used in mash-ups. All I own are my OCs.**

**Chapter 18:**

**The Mash-Up Competition**

Daniel sat calmly on his couch that night, thinking as hard as he could about all the possible songs he and the other boys in the club could combine together into a suitable mash-up. As he considered the available options, he glanced around his living room at all the other boys in the club with him. They had decided to gather together at his house to help each other with homework and to discuss ideas for mash-ups for the next day's performance.

Each of the other boys appeared to be equally deep in thought as they all tapped their pencils on their notepads, hummed and sighed in concentration, and drummed their fingers on whatever surface they could find. Calvin, in particular, had a furrow on his brow as he concentrated hard on thinking up ideas.

"I've got an idea!" Zack abruptly shouted. "Kanye West!"

"No!" The other boys all shouted at the same time.

"Oh come on guys! It will be fun!"

"The Hell it will!" Calvin retorted.

"Yeah!" Darren chimed in. "I'd rather die than sing any songs written by that disgrace!"

"You've got that right Darren," Daniel said before stating to Zack. "I mean come on Zack! Didn't you ever hear about what he did to Taylor Swift at that awards ceremony? Singing songs by that guy would be an insult to Taylor Swift's honor!"

Zack snorted disdainfully, and said, "Oh please. Who cares about Taylor Swift?"

All the boys hurriedly began to get up, their faces contorted with rage. Even Hobbes got up into a position in which he was prepared to pounce at Zack. Daniel, however, was the first to get up completely from his seat. Within seconds, he barreled over to Zack, crashed right into him, and slammed him up against the wall.

Zack gaped at his friend in shock as he found himself held fast to the wall by Daniel. "Dude! Calm down!" Zack yelled in surprise.

Daniel growled in fury and shouted, "Don't you ever say that about Taylor Swift!"

"Why? Come on, you've got to admit she sucks right?"

Zack grinned and winked at Daniel hurriedly in an attempt to let him know that he was just joking.

Unfortunately, Daniel was already too angry to notice this, and he promptly throttled Zack in the face with his fist before angrily roaring, "Are you out of your God damn mind!? Taylor Swift is one of the greatest female pop/country singers in the world!"

"You've got that right!" Calvin shouted in agreement. "The only people dumb enough to hate Taylor Swift are those who have horse manure for brains!" As if in agreement with his master, Hobbes barked once directly after Calvin said this.

"Calvin's right," Daniel snarled. "And by the way doofus, Taylor Swift is one of Diana's personal music idols, and she has a very healthy dislike for Kanye West as a result! And since she hates him, and I like Taylor Swift as well, I also hate Kanye West! In fact, the only member of this club dumb enough to actually consider being a fan of Kanye West and hating Taylor Swift is you! If I sang Kanye West's songs in front of Diana, she'd never forgive me! I'd rather die than live the rest of my life with Diana hating me! You understand me!?"

Zack gulped when he heard this. He hadn't thought of that. As he gazed into Daniel's furious eyes, he realized that in his tactless jokes, he had now alienated himself from Daniel and very nearly risked making an enemy out of Diana and all the other glee club members. Eventually, he hung his head and answered, "Got it. I'm sorry. I was only joking."

Daniel glared at Zack. "Good," he growled curtly before letting go of Zack and storming off back to his seat on the couch. The other boys also resumed their seats, the anger still clearly showing on their faces. Zack, dejectedly moved back to where he'd been standing before getting tackled, and sat down on the floor.

Half an hour later, Darren quickly raised his hand, his face alight with enthusiasm.

"Yes Darren?" Daniel asked.

"How about we do a mash-up of _Born to be Wild_ and _Born this Way_? I mean, it certainly seemed to be a real crowd pleaser during the tenth season of American Idol."

The other boy couldn't help but agree. Darren's idea certainly sounded like an exciting idea.

"I'll make a note of that Darren," Daniel said with a smile before opening up his note pad and writing down the idea Darren had suggested.

Dunlap raised his hand and stated, "Hey Daniel, I would definitely like it if we performed what Darren suggested, but could we consider a mash-up of _It's Time_ by Imagine Dragons and _Check yes Juliet_ by We the Kings?"

"That can be arranged," Daniel said with a grin of obvious approval as he wrote down the idea.

Raj was the next to raise his hand. Upon being called, he suggested, "How about a mash-up of the theme song of that show, _Friends_, and Mumford and Sons' _I Will Wait_?" The other boys whooped in excitement upon hearing that idea.

Unfortunately, the cheering died down when the boys all saw Zack raise his hand. Zack noticed this, and grimaced nervously as he thought of how his peers were now on their guard. Measuring his words carefully, he stated, "If you immediately dismiss this idea out of hand, I understand; but I'm now thinking that perhaps we could consider a mash-up of Usher's _DJ Got us Falling in Love_ and _Scream_?"

Zack saw the surprised looks that came on the other boys' faces when they heard his new idea, and was momentarily nervous as to what they might say. Eventually, the six other boys nodded in approval.

"I'm impressed," Daniel said, and his face conveyed the truth in the statement. "I can certainly say that this idea is a million times better than your original idea. Congratulations, you are redeemed."

"Thanks," Zack said, a wide smile on his face.

Daniel grinned, and jotted down Zack's redeeming idea for a mash-up on his list of ideas accepted for consideration.

However, almost immediately after Daniel asked if anyone had any more ideas, Calvin raised his hand.

"Yes Calvin?" Daniel asked.

Calvin lowered his hand and said, "How about a Jonas Brothers mash-up?"

Daniel thought to himself, and replied, "That might work. What songs of theirs' were you thinking of combining?"

"Well, I was thinking that with an adjustment or two with the key they're played in, perhaps maybe we could do a mash-up of _SOS_ and _One Man Show_."

"Hmm, well I can certainly see that happening," Daniel replied.

"Join the club Daniel," Darren chimed in. "I actually kind of like this idea."

"Word," Dunlap responded.

"I have to admit, I can certainly see us pulling off a mash-up like that," said Raj.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with Raj," Cody replied.

"Well I don't," Zack stated. The other boys turned their heads to face Zack, frowns clear on their faces.

"And why might that be?" Calvin asked in a deceptively calm voice considering the fact that it had been his idea that Zack had just said no to.

Zack spread his hands out in a conciliatory gesture and replied, "Don't get me wrong, I think the Jonas Brothers did some truly rad songs; but they also broke up. I'm not sure if singing the songs of a band that broke up would be the best choice in regard to keeping the club's morale high."

The other boys considered what Zack had said, and eventually nodded in agreement when they realized that Zack had brought up a valid point, and that he had not been a naysayer to the idea simply to make things difficult.

Then Calvin stated, "True, but you forget that they eventually got back together, am I right?"

The other boys immediately replied in the affirmative as Calvin's statement reminded them of the information.

Calvin turned his head back to Zack and explained, "See? Singing Jonas Brothers songs won't be bad for club morale at all. While the Jonas Brothers did admittedly break up, they eventually got back together. The New Directions, have likewise ended up in similar situations. From what Mr. Schue has told us, Rachel Berry once left the club to take part in a school musical, but rejoined in time for the final number in their Invitational performance. Kurt Hummel transferred to Dalton Academy during his Junior Year to escape from being bullied by David Karofsky, but he eventually returned later in the year. Quinn Fabray left the club over the summer between her junior and senior years and became a practical female Al Capone, but she was eventually brought back into the light. Also, Mercedes Jones, Brittany Pierce, and Santana Lopez left the club for a splinter section called the Trouble Tones directed by Shelby Corcoran, but they eventually joined back up with the New Directions along with then brand new member, one Sugar Motta. Finally, of the sixteen members that were in the club during 2012, eight of them ended up leaving upon graduation, and the number was reduced to seven when Rory Flanagan was deported back to Ireland. However, by the time Sectionals came along that year, the club once again had 12 members. In fact, the alumni even came back to visit every so often. Look dude, the point is, singing Jonas Brothers songs in a mash-up is not the worst thing we can do in regard to club morale."

"Well, I guess that's true. Still," Zack began.

"Ok that's it," Daniel stated with a tone of finality. "Let's put this to a vote. If you don't want us to perform this Jonas Brothers mash-up, raise your hands."

Zack tentatively raised his hand, a guilty grimace on his face as he realized how he'd now twice alienated himself from his peers among the guys in the glee club in one night.

Daniel shook his head from side to side at the sight, and then said, "All right, now everyone who wants to sing this mash-up, raise their hands."

In a flash, Daniel, Calvin, and all the other boys excluding Zack raised their hands.

"We have a majority; that's it," Daniel said slapping his hands on the table like a judge would "We're performing a Jonas Brothers mash-up." The other boys immediately cheered, except for Zack who was hanging his head in shame and humiliation for how badly the night was going for him.

. . . . .

Diana sat on her bed, her laptop open in front of her as she researched different songs on the internet and tried to decide what would go well together for a mash-up. She'd already thought of many songs, but none of them quite seemed to quite match up together properly the way songs needed to in order to be a good mash-up.

As Diana continued thinking as best as she could about possible songs she and the other girls in the New Directions could combine together for a mash-up performance, she noticed that the majority of them also appeared to be trying their best to think of an idea. Charlotte, however, didn't seem all that committed to the project as she was laughing at something on her cell phone. Diana sighed inwardly when she saw this, for Charlotte was definitely not taking the glee club assignment very seriously.

All of a sudden, Bailey raised her hand and shouted, "Ooh! I've got an idea!"

The girls all turned their heads to Bailey to hear what she'd come up with. Even Charlotte looked up from her phone to hear what Bailey had to say.

Bailey clasped her hands together, a confident grin on her face, and stated, "How about we do a mash-up of Rihanna's _We Found Love (in a Hopeless Place)_ and Beyoncé's _Sweet Dreams_?"

At the sound of that idea, the other girls nodded and smiled in approval. Even Charlotte found herself impressed. Having listened to both of those songs many times on her IPod, she herself knew how well those two songs could go together well in a mash-up.

Naomi then raised her own hand. The other girls turned their heads towards her to hear what she had to say. Amber tapped Naomi on the shoulder to indicate that they were all listening, and Naomi said, "I have to admit that you've come up with a pretty good idea Bailey, but could we also consider performing Selena Gomez's _Love you Like a Love Song_ and _Who Says_?" The other girls whistled in excitement at the idea. Diana quickly opened up a word document on her laptop and typed out the two ideas on a list for consideration. Things were going well.

Amber suddenly came up with an idea of her own, and she instinctively raised her hand. Once the other girls all had their attention fixed on her, Susan said, "I do like both those ideas, but I just now thought I'd suggest that perhaps we could do a mash-up of _Can't Take My Eyes off of You_ from High School Musical and Miranda Cosgrove's _When I'm Kissing You_?"

"Nice," the other girls said in unison as they gave Amber high fives to show their willingness to accept her idea.

Charlotte, however, was the only girl who didn't do this, and she rose her hand directly after the other girls had finished showing their support for Amber's idea.

Diana sighed, and politely asked, "What's your idea Helen of Troy?"

Charlotte frowned upon hearing what Diana had called her, and eventually said, "I was thinking, perhaps we could consider a mash-up of Pink's _So What_ and Ashley Tisdale's _It's Alright, It's Ok_?"

The other girls whistled in surprise. They certainly had to admit that Ashley's suggestion was certainly a believable idea for a mash-up. Even Diana was impressed at how Charlotte had managed to come up with such an impressive idea.

Charlotte grinned smugly behind her hand, which she'd placed over her mouth to hide the grin. Since the other girls could only see the happy look in her eyes now as a result, Charlotte knew they had little chance now of seeing through her façade to her ulterior motives behind the mash-up. Secretly, while she was proud of herself for just coming up with the mash-up in the first place, she was also proud because she believed that if she and the other girls performed that mash-up and Daniel learned that it had been she who'd come up with the idea, then perhaps he would be impressed to the point that he'd maybe actually consider dating her.

Unfortunately, her plot ended up on the verge of being derailed when Susan raised her own hand.

"Yes Susan?" Diana asked politely.

Susan lowered her hand and replied, "Though I admit that all of you have come up with some serious Class A mash-ups, I was wondering if we could consider a Taylor Swift mash-up."

At the sound of the other girls whistling in approval and excitement upon hearing Susan's idea, Charlotte's grin faded, and her hand slowly lowered from her mouth and fully revealed the uncertainty she was feeling. Her plan was not on a safe road at that moment.

Diana nodded her head, a smile on her face, and stated, "Well I'm certainly not one to say no to possibly singing some Taylor Swift songs. What songs of hers were you thinking of combining?"

"Well, admittedly we will probably have to change the tempo to make sure that they blend well enough together, but I'm thinking that apart from that, we could easily do a mash-up of Fearless and Sparks Fly."

Diana considered what Susan had suggested. "Hmm, now that I think about it, I can certainly see that happening," she stated. "Alright then, I'll add that to our list."

Directly after adding Susan's idea to the list of mash-up ideas, Diana looked up from her laptop and said to the other girls, "Ok everyone. We now have five ideas on our list, so now it's time to put things to a vote."

Charlotte abruptly asked, "Are you sure you want to put this to a vote? I mean, surely there's at least one idea among these five that all of us would be happy to sing unanimously?" As she said this, her face clearly showed how she now wanted more than anything for them all to agree to her idea for the contest, and she cursed herself in her mind for not waiting until after Susan gave her idea before suggesting her own. She knew that Susan had played a powerful card in suggesting a Taylor Swift mash-up, for that same artist was one of Diana's favorites, and she would therefore be very willing indeed to consider performing it in the contest.

Diana gazed at Charlotte, suspicion clear on her face as she noticed the look on Charlotte's own face. Diana's eyebrows rose at the sight of how Charlotte appeared to be nervous, and also as if she were silently begging for them all to agree on using her Pink/Ashley Tisdale mash-up for the contest. Upon seeing all this, Diana couldn't help but wonder whether or not Ashley had an ulterior motive in coming up with and performing her idea for the contest. In that instant, she knew that she had to give the other girls a chance to disagree; for she knew that if she herself were to agree with Charlotte's idea, then the others would almost certainly reluctantly agree to it as well in order to avoid making her or Charlotte unhappy.

Her mind made up, and with an idea at the ready in her mind for auctioning, Diana firmly stated, "Those not in favor of Susan's Taylor Swift mash-up idea, raise their hands."

Charlotte's hand popped up into the air, her face a mask of absolute desperation now. The other girls gazed at her, their eyebrows raised in suspicious as they too began to wonder what Charlotte was up to.

Diana smiled smugly, and continued, "All in favor of Susan's idea, raise their hands." The instant Diana said this, all of the girls apart from Charlotte, Susan and Diana included raised their hands.

Diana's smile widened, and with a toss of her hair, she stated triumphantly, "The yays have it. Taylor Swift it is." The other girls cheered enthusiastically; that is, except for Charlotte, who pouted silently as she watched her peers in the glee club applauding the victorious idea. Already, her latest plot had been foiled before it had even begun. She was now seriously going to have to really think hard to come up with a plan to top this one off.

. . . . .

The next day, Daniel was shaking with anticipation. As he sat down on his seat in the choir room, he looked over the outfit he'd chosen for the third time just to make absolutely sure that it looked to be in suitable condition for his upcoming performance. He could see the other boys doing the same with their outfits, all of them exactly like his own. The outfits the boys had dressed up in for the performance today consisted of black jeans, white undershirts, black leather jackets, and even black leather boots. Immediately after the other boys finished smoothing out their own outfits, they all looked Daniel in the eyes and grinned. Daniel grinned back, for he knew perfectly well how hard and long he and the other boys had practiced to make sure that their performance today would be perfect. The girls couldn't help but gaze admiringly at the boys, curious as to what sort of awesome mash-up they'd come up with. Even Charlotte had to admit that the boys, especially Zack and Daniel, looked quite handsome in these uniforms, and hopefully had come up with a very good mash-up to require this kind of outfit.

Mr. Schuester smiled as he saw how the boys were eagerly awaiting the chance to perform. Sitting nearby on a stool nearby the piano, Emma was also watching the students. She had been selected to be her husband's assistant judge for the competition, and she was eager to see what her husband's new batch of future stars had cooked up. Brad, meanwhile, sat faithfully at the seat that he as pianist was required to sit in for when he played the piano, for he himself was also wondering just what sort of mash-up the boys had come up with, and how it might compare to other mash-ups he'd heard from past groups of kids in this club.

Eventually, Mr. Schuester stated, "Alright everyone. The time has come. Boys, show us what you've got."

The minute they all heard Mr. Schuester say this, the seven boys bolted off of their seats as if they'd been fired from a cannon and dashed over to the miniature stage that was reserved specifically for performances like this in the choir room.

After all seven of the boys took their places by one of each of the seven microphones that had been set up for them, Daniel raised his microphone to his mouth and said, "Alright everyone; as you know, the boys team shall perform its mash-up today. We've worked very hard on this, so we hope that the fruits of our efforts prove as fun for you to watch as it will hopefully be for us to perform. On that note," he turned his head to the band and stated, "Bring it boys!"

At the sound of this command, the band immediately began playing the opening notes of _One Man Show_ by the Jonas Brothers. At the sound of the tune, the girls opened their eyes in surprise and admiration. The boys stood calmly on the stage, tapping their feet in anticipation for when the time came for them to start singing. When the moment finally came, they eagerly started singing; and it went something like this:

_(Daniel)_

_I feel like I'm gonna go insane  
'Cause I keep hearin' your voice call my name  
In an empty room girl you're the one I see  
Let me tell you girl we're history_

_(Calvin)_

_Oh This is an S.O.S.  
Don't wanna second guess,  
This is the bottom line  
It's true  
I gave my all for you,  
now my heart's in two  
And I can't find the other half  
It's like I'm walking on broken glass,  
better believe I bled  
It's a call I'll never get_

_(Daniel)_

_Girl you broke my heart and let me down  
I'd be better off if you weren't around  
Took my love and threw it on the ground  
Saying goodbye girl don't make a sound_

_(Calvin)_

_Oh This is an S.O.S.  
Don't wanna second guess,  
This is the bottom line  
It's true  
I gave my all for you,  
now my heart's in two  
And I can't find the other half  
It's like I'm walking on broken glass,  
better believe I bled  
It's a call I'll never get_

_(Dunlap)_

_Next time I see you  
I'm giving you a high five  
'cause hugs are over rated, just FYI_

_(Daniel)_

_Oh This is an S.O.S.  
Don't wanna second guess,  
This is the bottom line  
It's true  
I gave my all for you,  
now my heart's in two  
(Darren)(yeah)  
(Calvin)_

_Oh This is an S.O.S.  
Don't wanna second guess,  
This is the bottom line  
It's true  
I gave my all for you,  
now my heart's in two  
And I can't find the other half  
It's like I'm walking on broken glass,  
better believe I bled  
It's a call I'll never get_

_(Daniel) Call I'll never get_

_(All) Call I'll never . . ._

Directly after all the boys finished singing the last note, they each drew a hand mirror from their jacket pockets, placed them on the ground in front of their feet, lifted up their left feet, and stomped down hard on the glass parts of the mirrors, cracking them.

Upon the completion of the show-stopping finish, the girls all stood up and cheered loudly while Hobbes barked incessantly with great enthusiasm as he applauded his master. Mr. Schuester, Emma, and Brad also clapped and cheered. Daniel, Calvin, and the other boys all smiled, and bowed. Even Calvin, for once, deemed to abstain from roaring this time, for he knew that he needed to practice for actual competitions; for he knew that roaring after a performance in a competition would not be a healthy choice in regard to the judges' opinions at actual competitions; and bowed with his peers. Susan smiled when she noticed this, for she knew that her friend was putting a lot of effort into preparing himself for when he had to refrain from roaring for the sake of the team after performances in competitions, and she was proud of him for being so selfless.

After the applause ended, Mr. Schuester spread his hands out to his sides and stated, "Wow! Just wow!"

Calvin chuckled, and stated, "I know right? We were awesome! Isn't that right everyone?!" The other glee clubbers cheered loudly in agreement.

Mr. Schuester nodded his head side to side, and stated, "You have no idea how much you reminded me of the very first mash-up performance by a group consisting of all male members of this club.

Daniel grinned, and stated, "Well I hope you don't mind that we weren't using Vitamin D like your former students did in their first mash-up competition." Everyone laughed at that, and Daniel smiled.

"Thank goodness for that indeed," Mr. Schuester said with a smile. "Well thank you very much for your performance. You may now return to your seats."

The boys smiled, and walked calmly over to their seats. After all the gleeks were once again seated, Mr. Schuester clapped his hands, turned to face his students, and said, "Alright everyone, now that the boys have fulfilled their part in this contest, the girls team shall perform tomorrow!" The gleeks all cheered in anticipation.

Mr. Schuester's smile widened, and he continued, "And on that note, the girls team had better have something extra suave ready for tomorrow, because what the guys had cooked up for us today will be very hard to beat indeed!" The gleeks cheered even louder at the sound of this. As everyone cheered, Diana and Susan looked each other in the eyes, and winked as they thought about how hard they'd been working yesterday in practicing, and how they'd work just as hard tonight. They could already tell from last night's practicing that their performance tomorrow would at the very least be equal to that of the boys, if not better.

. . . . .

Charlotte walked confidently down the hall towards the men's locker room that afternoon after the end of cheer leading practice. Charlotte smiled smugly as she made her way to her destination. She had now come up with a brilliant plan to bring the club down, and Daniel into her waiting arms. In fact, directly before starting on her way to the men's locker room, she had discussed her current plan with coach Sylvester. Luckily, the coach was currently in one of her anti-glee club phases, and had agreed whole-heartedly to her carrying out the idea. Smiling still, Charlotte reached the entrance to the locker room and entered.

As she'd hoped, John Lipoff and Miles Surette were in there about to get undressed for showers. They had been forced to run ten laps around the field by Coach Bieste as punishment for being late for practice that day. Now, they were about to shower long after all the other football team members had left school grounds. Charlotte smiled at the sight of them, for they were the two that she trusted the most with getting her current plan carried out properly. She coughed loudly to get their attention.

The two boys turned their heads in the direction they'd heard the coughing sound come from, and raised their eyebrows at the sight of Charlotte. "Umm, you do realize that the girl's locker room is next door right?" John asked with suspicion clear in his voice.

Charlotte sighed as she unconsciously remembered the men's restroom incident from earlier in the year, but eventually managed to say, "I know that I'm not supposed to be in here, but I really would like to talk to you two about something."

"Could it wait until tomorrow? John and I are already late enough getting home as it is! My mom's going to be practically breathing fire at me by the time I get home tonight because I was supposed to be at home right now babysitting my sister!"

"Miles, calm down," John said patiently.

Charlotte sighed in relief, for she was not in the mood to deal with ill-tempered football players at the moment. She then said, "No Miles, this is very important, and must be discussed now."

Miles sighed in irritation, and bitterly growled, "Fine, but make it quick; the sooner I get this guaranteed cold shower over with and my ass back home where it belongs, the better."

Charlotte rolled her eyes, and stated calmly, "It's about the glee club."

At the sound of this, John immediately stated, "No; we're not signing up for it. You're signing up for it is enough, especially considering how Taymor got himself in as well. You don't need us playing along with you in the same game."

"Will you just let me finish?!" Charlotte shouted in anger. John and Miles reared back in surprise and fear, terrified by the sudden outburst of anger.

Charlotte took a series of deep breaths, and eventually managed to calm down sufficiently enough to say, "While I do not wish for you or any other football players to join the club, I do want you all to help me in a little idea I've come up with to bring them down, and to get Daniel and I together where we belong. Savvy?"

"What do you even need us for? It's not like you have more than enough love-drunk gorillas fawning over you anyway, and Taymor still isn't jealous of that," said Miles.

"Perhaps I forgot to mention that you will be paid for your services?" Charlotte asked.

That got the attention of both boys. Charlotte smiled when she saw how rapidly more interested the two boys became when they heard the mention of money being involved. "Money always changes hands," she thought to herself smugly.

"Go on," Miles said, his face agleam with a wolf-like grin as he thought about what sort of task he'd been deemed worthy of being paid to do by the head cheerio of McKinley High. John seemed equally interested.

Charlotte, still smiling, calmly stated, "Tomorrow, after the day's session of glee club is over, I want you two and as many football players as you can gather together excluding Danny to meet up with us nearby the entrance to the choir room, and give us the most brutal slushy treatment you can manage."

John and Miles looked each other in the eyes, looked back at Charlotte, and asked at the same time, "That's it?"

"Nope," Charlotte replied. "In fact, I would like you to continue doing it every day. And I want you to do it at random time and place."

"Ok . . . why do you want us to do this exactly?" John asked.

"Simple," Charlotte replied. "Sectionals will soon take place for the glee club, and team morale will need to be at its highest for the club to win. Therefore, with constant slushy facials every day, morale should be lowered sufficiently enough for the club to loose. As a result, all the members, especially Danny, should be put into a low enough funk that I can easily cheer him up and we can become an item. Sound like a plan?"

The two boys considered the idea. "Hmm, I can certainly see where you're going with this," Miles replied. "Still, considering the fact that you want us to start tomorrow, you are kind of informing us of this plan a little out of the blue . . ."

"Did I mention that I could also possibly find a way to arrange a way to break up that Vanessa Hudgens lookalike and that beast she's dating?"

"We're in," Miles replied almost immediately. Charlotte smiled, for she'd had a feeling that Miles would agree to following through with her plan if there were the possibility of him becoming Susan's boyfriend.

John rolled his eyes, and stated, "So we are," before turning his head back to Charlotte and asking, "Are you going to be there when we do the slushy treatments?"

"Indeed I will. In fact, I want to be included in the slushy facials."

"Why?"

"Well in order for the club morale to be lowered, all of us have to appear to fall under those effects, and it will be more convincing if I were slushied as well. That way, they won't suspect that I was involved in arranging this."

"Hmm, I guess that makes sense. Very well, how much are you going to pay us?"

"Two hundred dollars each. I'll give it to you tomorrow after the job is complete."

"Done," both boys said at the same time.

"Good. I'll leave you to your showers now."

Smiling at how well things were turning out so far, Charlotte turned and was about to leave to go to the girl's locker room and change out of her cheerios outfit when she heard Miles say, "This had better work. If this doesn't work out, you'll have to pay each of us twice that amount to pay for the humiliation."

"Sounds fair," Charlotte said without looking as she exited the men's locker room. As she headed down towards the girl's locker room afterward, she couldn't help but smile smugly as she thought about the horrific surprise that her fellow glee clubbers were in for. However, as she walked away from the entrance to the men's locker room and entered that of the girls, little did she know that she was being watched.

Crouching near the lockers by the entrance to the men's locker room, were Calvin, Susan, and Hobbes. They had just left their session of the Animal Welfare Club when they had seen Charlotte exit Coach Sylvester's office and head down towards the men's locker room. Suspicious, they had followed her, and had stood nearby the entrance while she'd been in the midst of her meeting with the two football players. Hobbes, being the very well trained dog he was, had wisely not made a sound upon receiving the proper command word from Calvin. Calvin, knowing how crucial it was that some operations he might get involved in be as stealthy as possible, had known how important it was that Hobbes didn't spoil it all by growling, barking, or likewise making noise, and so had trained Hobbes to make himself as quiet as possible upon hearing the word "silent."

With Hobbes commanded to be quiet, Calvin, Susan, and Hobbes had remained in position by the locker room entrance long enough to eavesdrop on Charlotte's meeting with the football players, memorizing every detail of the conversation, and thus of Charlotte's plan. In fact, just to be doubly positive that they'd have enough proof of this for their fellow gleeks, Calvin had recorded it all on his cell phone. The instant the three friends had heard the conversation near its end, they had quickly, but quietly, gotten into a hiding position nearby some lockers. Charlotte had exited the locker room almost immediately after the three spies had gotten into hiding.

The instant Charlotte was out of sight, Calvin counted silently to ten in his head, turned off his phone, and signaled to Susan and Hobbes that it was time to go. In a flash, the three friends calmly walked down the hall in the direction opposite the one that Charlotte had headed, and made their way to the parking lot where they knew that their parents were probably waiting for them. As they walked, Calvin and Susan looked each other in the eyes, and a silent message passed between them mentally. They were going to have to inform their fellow gleeks, excluding Charlotte, of what they'd overheard as soon as possible.

. . . . .

Diana patiently sat in her seat in the choir room the next day, dressed in a red sun dress. The other girls were also sitting in their seats in the same outfit as Diana. Diana couldn't help but notice how the guys were all staring at her and the other girls, wondering just what sort of mash-up they'd come up with to have to wear the type of outfit they were wearing. Diana smiled as she saw Daniel's admiring look directed at her, for she already knew how impressed he'd be with the upcoming performance.

In fact, the performance wasn't the only thing she was looking forward to today. Right underneath her seat, and that of all the other gleeks apart from Charlotte, was a large burlap sack. Diana grinned as she thought about the contents inside the sacks, for she and the other gleeks had been very enthusiastic about getting them ready so that they'd be prepared for when the football players attempted their morale lowering operation that day the minute Calvin and Susan had informed them of what they'd overheard Charlotte plotting the day before. "Those football players will rue this day," she thought to herself.

Eventually, Mr. Schuester, entered the room and took his position between his wife and Brad. He turned to face the students, briefly did a double take upon sight of the girls in their costumes, and eventually said, "Ok than, well girls, are you ready?"

"You bet we are," Bailey said.

Raj smiled, practically drooling as he continued to stare at Bailey long after the other guys had turned their heads to face Mr. Schuester.

Cody noticed this, and elbowed Raj in the ribs. "Cut it out, that's disgusting," he hissed when Raj turned his head to face his rival with an indignant frown on his face. Raj stuck his tongue out at Cody, but turned his head to face Mr. Schuester.

Mr. Schuester briefly glared at Cody and Raj, and eventually said, "Alright then. Let's hear it girls!"

In stark contrast to how the boys had stampeded over to the stage the previous day, the girls calmly stood up and walked over to take their places at the stage. This time, only six microphones had been set up. Once all the girls had taken their places, Diana picked up her microphone and said, "Alright everyone. I must admit, the boys' performance yesterday was awe-inspiring. However, I can assure you all today that our performance today will at the very least be their performance's equal, and at most its better."

At the sound of this, the boys went "Ooh, feisty."

Diana chuckled, and continued, "Well I hope you still enjoy this performance anyway. Admittedly, the artist we're doing a mash-up of isn't a rock star, but this performance will still nonetheless rock your world."

"You've got that right Diana," Susan said before turning her head to the band and saying, "Hit it."

The band began to play the opening notes to _Fearless_, and the audience smiled upon hearing the notes, for they all very much enjoyed hearing Taylor Swift music. Even Zack smiled, for he truly had been joking the other night when he'd said insulting things about Taylor Swift, and in truth enjoyed her work as well.

When the time was right, the performance began:

_(Diana)_

_There's somethin' 'bout the way  
The street looks when it's just rained  
There's a glow off the pavement  
you walk me to the car  
And you know I wanna ask you to dance right there  
In the middle of the parking lot  
Yeah  
Oh yeah  
We're drivin' down the road  
I wonder if you know  
I'm tryin' so hard not to get caught up now  
But you're just so cool  
Run your hands through your hair  
Absent mindedly makin' me want you_

_(Susan)_

_Drop everything now  
Meet me in the pouring rain  
Kiss me on the sidewalk  
Take away the pain  
'cause I see sparks fly whenever you smile  
Get me with those green eyes, baby, as the lights go down  
Give me something that'll haunt me when you're not around  
'cause I see sparks fly whenever you smile_

_(Diana)_

_So baby drive slow  
'til we run out of road in this one horse town  
I wanna stay right here in this passenger's seat  
You put your eyes on me  
In this moment now capture it, remember it_

_(Susan)_

_Drop everything now  
Meet me in the pouring rain  
Kiss me on the sidewalk  
Take away the pain  
'cause I see sparks fly whenever you smile  
Get me with those green eyes, baby, as the lights go down  
Give me something that'll haunt me when you're not around  
'cause I see sparks fly whenever you smile_

_(Diana)_

_Well you stood there with me in the doorway  
My hands shake  
I'm not usually this way but  
You pull me in and I'm a little more brave  
It's the first kiss,  
It's flawless,  
Really something,  
It's fearless._

_(Susan)_

_Drop everything now,  
Meet me in the pouring rain,  
Kiss me on the sidewalk,  
Take away the pain  
'cause I see sparks fly whenever you smile.  
Get me with those green eyes, baby, as the lights go down  
Give me something that'll haunt me when you're not around  
'cause I see sparks fly whenever you smile  
(Diana)_

_And the sparks fly...  
(Susan)_

_Oh, baby, smile...  
(All)_

_And the sparks fly..._

Upon completing the last lyrics of the song, the girls all masterfully twirled around once. The applause that erupted from the audience was so enthusiastic that the girls couldn't help but smile.

Mr. Schuester, his wife, and Brad also clapped. "Your performances just keep getting better and better," Mr. Schuester said with a smile.

"They certainly do," said Mrs. Schuester, a smile lighting up her face. Even Brad smiled; he was now seriously regretting even thinking about hating his working with this club twenty two years ago.

Eventually, the girls all returned to their seats. The guys all gave the girls high fives, and the girls smiled as they did so. Once all the gleeks were seated, Mr. Schuester turned his head to his wife and said, "I think we should go ahead and get the judging out of the way. These kids deserve it."

"I couldn't agree more," said Emma as she got up from her seat and turned to face the students.

The students all leaned forward in anticipation, eager to hear the results of the competition. They knew how the results had never been announced so early on in the past, and were especially enthusiastic to be able to hear them now without having to wait for multiple days.

Eventually, Emma whistled, and said, "Well, you kids have certainly made it very difficult for judges like me and my husband to make a decision on who should win, and I know that we have to be careful in our decision considering the fact that the winning team gets to decide what goes on the set list for Sectionals this year."

At the sound of that, the gleeks all looked each other in the eyes. This was the first time they'd heard any news about that being the reward.

Emma then said, "However, my husband and I have indeed made a decision." The gleeks once again turned their heads to face Emma.

Emma smiled, looked at her husband to confirm that he was ready for the decision to be announced. Will winked, and she turned her head back to face the students with a confident smile on her face.

"The contest ends . . .," Mrs. Schuester began. The New Directions took a deep breath in anticipation. "In a draw," Mrs. Schuester finished.

The gleeks all gasped in shock and disbelief.

"A draw!?" Daniel asked incredulously.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Calvin roared.

"All that work, and we get a draw?" Diana asked in disbelief.

"I guess our performance was equal to that of the guys," Susan muttered.

"Now, now, everyone," Mrs. Schuester calmly stated. "I'm not kidding. Both of your performances were just too good for me and Will to pick an overall winner. However, we did come up with a compromise for the reward in the event of a draw."

The gleeks instantly looked up with interest at the sound of that. A compromised reward was certainly better than no reward at all.

Mr. Schuester stated, "The guys shall pick one number for the performance, the girls shall pick another, and all of you together shall pick a finale." At the sound of this, the gleeks all cheered. The applause was so loud that they very nearly didn't even hear the ringing of the bell that signaled the end of the term for that day.

"See you all next week! Enjoy your weekend!" Mr. Schuester shouted as all the kids gathered up their supplies and bags and left the choir room.

As the students all left the choir room, Charlotte finally noticed the burlap sacks that her fellow glee clubbers were carrying in their hands. "What's with those bags?" she asked in curiosity.

Her fellow gleeks turned their heads to her, and gave wolfish grins before they all said at the same time, "It's a surprise."

. . . . .

John Lipoff, Miles Surette, and eleven other football players were waiting outside the choir room, smiling in anticipation as they held their slushies at the ready to be splashed into the faces of the coming targets. Miles and John were especially happy, for they couldn't wait for their payment, or in Miles's case, the chance to finally get his hooks into Susan later on.

Eventually, all thirteen of the New Directions members came out of the choir room. The girls, they couldn't help but notice, were still dressed in their costumes for the mash-up performance, and for a moment, Miles gaped in awe at Susan, for he had to admit that she really looked stunning in the crimson red sun dress she was wearing. John elbowed him in the chest to bring him back down to Earth, and Miles promptly shook his head to clear his thoughts.

John then yelled out to the glee clubbers, "Good afternoon! How was today's session of Losers Anonymous?"

To his surprise, when the gleeks all turned around to face the football players and placed the burlap sacks they were holding onto the ground, all of them but Charlotte had confident grins on their faces. Charlotte, they noticed, had her fake fearful look on her face, but it was hard to notice among the confidence exuding from the faces of her peers in the glee club.

Daniel then said, "Well if it isn't the Cave Man Olympics Committee. How was your latest session of beating yourselves up and acting stupid all day?"

John and Miles's faces turned the same shade of red as the red areas on their letterman jackets. The other football players looked nervously at each other in the eyes. This was not what they'd been led to expect when their leaders had gathered them together for this plan.

Miles snarled, and blustered out, "Don't be smart with us Taymor! You're going to pay for betraying us all the way you did when you signed up for the No Directions!"

"Miles is right. You broke the rules, and it's time for you and your legion of losers to pay the consequences." John chimed in, but with a much calmer attitude than the ill-tempered Miles.

Unfortunately, to their surprise, Daniel and the other gleeks all laughed; all that is, except for Charlotte, whose face had turned white in surprise at what was unfolding right in front of her in place of what she'd been expecting after forming up this latest plan of hers. Upon seeing Charlotte's face, John and Miles looked at her out of the corners of their eyes. They silently asked "What's going on?" for due to how the other gleeks apparently had been expecting them, they now had a feeling that they had somehow figured out about what was going on. Charlotte spread her hands out in a helpless gesture. She had no idea what had happened to ruin her plan this time.

Daniel then said, "Go ahead and slushy us. We dare you."

"You heard him," Calvin said smugly. "Go ahead if you dare. We know you want to."

The other gleeks were quick to agree with the two boys. Hobbes stood where he was, a confused look on his face. His master hadn't yet taught him what to do in the event of this kind of situation.

The football players momentarily gazed into each other's eyes nervously, unsure of whether or not to follow through with what they'd originally planned for today. But then, when Miles saw Calvin hissing at him like a snake, something snapped in him, and he got his slushy into position to splash it at Calvin. The other football players, upon seeing Miles prepare to follow through with the plan, got their own slushies at the ready. With a hoarse roar of challenge, the thirteen football players flung the contents of their slushies at the thirteen gleeks.

Upon receiving the slushy facials, twelve of the gleeks spread their arms out to their sides, stood firm, and appeared to bask in the light of the hallway. Charlotte, meanwhile, appeared to slip and fall down on her backside. The twelve other glee club members turned their heads to face her, their faces completely blank under the slushy contents all over their faces. Then Charlotte saw their faces change as they all smiled.

The twelve gleeks still standing turned to face the football players, still smiling as they prepared themselves for their comeback. Daniel placed his hands on the sides of his body and stood tall as if he were about to receive a medal, and said, "Well, I can definitely say that getting splashed in the face with a grape slushy is not the most comfortable thing in the world, but I suppose things could be worse right now."

Calvin grinned under the green slushy across his face, and chimed in, "As someone who's actually been splashed in the face with a lime flavored slushy, I can definitely say that my eyes are burning, but apart from that, I think I'll live."

Zack licked at the lemon flavored slushy that had been splashed in his own face, and said, "Hmm, lemon, my favorite. I wonder, do you have any more?"

"My eyes were already red before I got splashed with this cherry flavored slushy. My life could be worse now," Dunlap said with a grin.

"This blue berry flavored slushy may ruin my contacts, but that won't be the end of the world; especially since I've got back-up contacts in my backpack and at home. And who knows? Maybe the contacts I'm wearing right now will turn green and look even cooler," Darren chimed in.

The other gleeks apart from Charlotte all smiled in agreement. They were not going to let anything bring them down.

The football players soon realized this and looked at each other nervously. Seconds later, the gleeks who weren't still sitting down on the floor on their backsides picked up the burlap sacks they'd been carrying.

"Alright people," Daniel said. "They've had their turn; now it's time for us to pay the debt."

"What's going on?" Miles asked.

The glee clubbers grinned, loosened the bindings on the sacks, and started swinging them back and forth.

"One," Daniel said.

"What are you doing?" John asked nervously.

"Two."

"What's in those bags?" Miles asked.

"Three."

At the sound of that word, the twelve gleeks thrusted the sacks forward, sending the contents flying out towards the football players.

The football players just had time to notice the massive storm of water balloons hurtling towards them before they all felt them crashing into them. In fact, to add insult to injury, they soon found out the hard way that the water balloons were most certainly not filled with water, but instead . . . "Uggh, what is this? Paint?" Miles asked as he felt the sticky paint cloud up on his skin and in his eyes.

Calvin smiled, and said, "Correct. I hope you enjoy your new team colors boys."

Directly after Calvin finished his sally, Daniel said, "Alright boys, now you'd better not even think of trying to pull off a stunt like this again, or we'll be back with more water balloons, and that's before we start doing even worse. Before long, we'll gladly have your own morale reduced to the point that the football team sucks just as much as it did under the leadership of Ken Tanaka, and that's before we decide to get the beast involved!"

"Oh please, like that loser friend of yours is gonna do anything worse than what you tell him to do alongside you and your other loser friends!" Miles said. Unfortunately, the paint on his face did not help with his dignity.

Calvin grinned, and stated, "Actually, he was referring to Hobbes that time, not me."

At the sound of his name, Hobbes turned his head to face his master. Smiling Calvin looked at Hobbes, indicated the slushies and football players with his hands and said, "Danger."

At the sound of that word, Hobbes snarled at the football players. The football players, though unable to see Hobbes through the paint in their eyes, heard the snarl, and immediately felt fear as they remembered that Calvin's nightmare body guard dog was in the area.

Calvin smiled, and said, "Now you lot had better get out of here and clean yourselves up before I get tempted to leave you to the mercy of my good old dog, Hobbes. Trust me, his revenge will be swift, furious, and very bloody, and it won't be his blood that will be lying around the scene if I send him after you. You want me to sic him on you right now?"

"No!" the football players shouted immediately, for they still remembered the incident from many months ago involving the rope.

Calvin grinned, and continued, "Good. Well in that case, why don't you . . . GET OUT OF HERE!?"

The football players, terrified by the sudden piercing roar coming from Calvin, hightailed away from the glee club members faster than a platoon of marines on their way to battle.

The instant the football players were gone, Zack lowered his hand towards Charlotte, a smile on his face.

Charlotte, bitter that her plans had once again been foiled, glared at Zack, clenched her fist around his hand, and got herself up. Zack couldn't help but shake his hand in pain after Charlotte finally undid her vice-like grip on it.

Daniel turned to face his fellow glee clubbers, smiling still, and stated, "Alright everyone, I'm glad that we taught those goons a valuable lesson today. However, now it's time that we cleaned ourselves up because my eyes are on fire!" The other gleeks immediately agreed.

"Alright, off we go to get cleaned up. Next stop, Sectionals!"

The gleeks cheered, and as one, they all turned around and made their way to their respective restrooms to get cleaned up and change into clean clothes. Their morale was definitely very much at an all-time high.

**And that's just the way they roll this chapter! I hope you enjoy this! Please read and review (seriously, REVIEW, pretty please).**

**Coming up next: Ladies and Gentlemen, gleeks of all ages, it is time for Sectionals! Competition this year, New Directions, the Unitards, and Aural Intensity! Which competing glee club will make the cut for Regionals? Will the New Directions score yet another Sectionals victory? Or will this prove to be the Sectionals incident from Season 4 all over again? Find out on the next update everyone! :)**


	19. Sectionals

**Hey there! Well, here's the newest update! Get ready everyone! It's time for Sectionals! Will the New Directions make it to Regionals? Read on and find out :)**

**Sadly, I do not own Glee. And I sure don't own any of the songs used in this chapter either.**

**Chapter 19:**

**Sectionals**

The time had come. Sectionals was soon to begin for the New Directions for this season. Mr. Schuester couldn't help but smile as he thought about how hard the club had practiced to perfect their performances for this day.

In fact, they were actually performing at night, and at McKinley High. Being the club that was the defending champions, the Sectionals competition for the New Directions this year had been set to take place at their home school. Mr. Schuester smiled as he thought of how all the kids in the club this year were eagerly waiting in the audience for the competition to start so that they could their groove on.

The auditorium, named affectionately after April Rhodes Mr. Schuester remembered with a wistful smile, was also packed with numerous people, including the faculty, some of the other students, and even the parents of many of the members of the glee clubs performing that night. Even Sue Sylvester herself was sitting in the audience.

Mr. Schuester grinned at the sight of Sue in the audience. He had a feeling that since she was in the audience, she was either on one of her pro-glee club phases, or was up to something. And up to something she indeed was, for Mr. Schuester now remembered how two weeks prior, Calvin and Susan had managed to get wind of yet another plot of Charlotte's. This time, Charlotte's plan had ironically been a tactic that Sue herself had used during the very first Sectionals competition that the New Directions had ever taken part in.

The plan, from what Calvin and Susan had told him and the other gleeks, was to leak a copy of the set list to Sue, who would then leak it out to the glee clubs they were competing against at Sectionals. If the rival glee clubs just so happened to agree to their part in the plan, they would each perform one of the first two songs that was supposedly going to be sung by the New Directions, who would be performing last at Sectionals. This would leave the New Directions with only one unused song in a three-song set list. When a similar incident had happened 25 years ago with the very first Sectionals competition involving the New Directions, the club had been in a real fix.

However, this time, Mr. Schuester had known about the plot in advance thanks to the efforts of Calvin and Susan, and had played a game of his own. When he'd passed out set list copies to the New Directions members two weeks ago, he had first given them all a copy of a set list that consisted of _YMCA_, _Boogie Wonderland_, and the Jersey Boys number, _Who Loves You_. Ironically, the finale number was the actual finale that the New Directions would perform. However, from what he'd been told about the plot, the rival clubs would each perform either _YMCA_ or _Boogie Wonderland_.

The minute Charlotte had left the choir room after the fake set lists had been provided, Mr. Schuester had given the other twelve gleeks copies of a different set list. With that obstacle out of the way, he had made sure that the New Directions practiced the songs on the fake set list publicly in club sessions while Charlotte was around, and had assigned for the other twelve gleeks to gather together whenever they had time and practice the real set list without Charlotte around. At the thought of how hard they'd all prepared, Mr. Schuester smiled, for he was already looking forward to seeing the look that would be on the faces of Charlotte and Sue when they learned how their plot had been foiled, and to watching his new group of New Directions put all their hard work into gear. With this in mind, he headed over to his seat nearby the New Directions and sat himself down.

. . . . .

Sue Sylvester was eagerly anticipating the competition. She smiled smugly, her icy blue eyes agleam as she thought of the epic surprise in store for Will Schuester and the New Directions. She chuckled, and rubbed her left hand through her short blonde hair that was beginning to turn a ghastly off-white as she envisioned how horrified they would probably be. In fact, to make it worse, this time there wouldn't be an intermission between the New Directions performance and that of the other glee clubs. The New Directions would definitely be in trouble this time she thought to herself, and would almost certainly be shut down for the season.

As she had the thought, she momentarily felt a pang of doubt. Now that she was actually sitting there in the audience that night, she couldn't help but wonder if she truly wanted to do this. But why? "I must really be getting old," she thought to herself. And in fact she was. She was already in her late 60s to early 70s range when it came to age. She was now seriously beginning to wonder if she really had the energy to keep cooking up plots to destroy the glee club anymore. She'd already tried so many times, and the New Directions still continued to rise up stronger than ever, even when her plans momentarily appeared to have succeeded.

She sighed, and turned her head back to look at the stage. Maybe after this plot had unfolded, maybe it would be time for her to take a permanent vacation from trying to destroy the glee club. Still, she would have to wait for a pretty long while before the competition ended and her vacation could begin.

. . . . .

Mr. Schuester sat patiently in his seat alongside Emma and the New Directions members. The competition was due to begin at any minute. The New Directions members were all squirming in anticipation as they waited for the competition to begin.

Suddenly remembering what he'd prepared for them to do to fool Sue and Charlotte into thinking that their plot was working, he leaned over and whispered into Daniel's ear, "Remember what I told you to do."

Daniel winked, and whispered back, "Got it Mr. Schue." The other glee clubbers apart from Charlotte nodded in affirmation. Charlotte noticed this, and raised her eyebrow in suspicion.

However, before Charlotte could question Mr. Schue about what was going on, the announcement came on over the loud speaker: "Alright everyone! Get ready for some fun in the 2035 Show Choir Sectionals Competition!" The audience roared in excitement at the sound of the announcement.

"Let's have a warm welcome to our judges! Former CEO of one of the biggest piano companies in the state, now back on temporary service as top dog of the company, Al Motta!"

The audience cheered as the famous and much loved former CEO of Motta Pianos stood up and waved to the audience, a smile on his face as he basked in the applause.

"Meet our second judge, our very own local news anchorman, Rod Remington!"

The audience cheered even louder as Rod Remington stood up, smiled, and waved at the audience. Sue's eyebrows rose at the sight of him, for she still hadn't fully forgiven him for what he'd put her through by dating her while in a relationship with his former co-anchor, Andrea Carmichael.

When Rod Remington sat back down, the announcer blared out, "And finally, let's give a warm welcome to former alumnus of McKinley High turned famous Broadway legend, Bryan Ryan!"

The applause reached fever pitch as the third judge stood up and waved at the audience with a happy grin on his face. Will Schuester couldn't help but gape at the man, stunned. He could recognize that man anywhere. There was no doubt about it, this was indeed his former high school classmate and rival who had threatened to cut the New Directions from the program twenty five years ago. He had to admit that his time on Broadway had certainly changed him for the better from when he'd last seen him. Eventually, Bryan Ryan sat back down, a warm smile on his face as he prepared himself for watching the upcoming performances.

The announcer on the loud speaker finally ended the announcements with, "Alright everyone, let's begin! Starting tonight from Fort Wayne, Indiana, the Westvale High Aural Intensity!"

The audience cheered as the Aural Intensity glee club took its place on the stage. Sue Sylvester couldn't help but smile at the sight, for she still remembered how she'd briefly been the director of that same club twenty four years ago during one of her anti-glee club phases.

Seconds later, the Westvale High band started playing the opening notes to the song that the club had prepared for their performance. The audience whistled in excitement as they recognized the music. When the time came near for the singing to begin, the male lead of the club turned around and began the performance:

_(Male Lead)_

_Young man, there's no need to feel down.  
I said, young man, pick yourself off the ground.  
I said, young man, 'cause you're in a new town  
There's no need to be unhappy.  
Young man, there's a place you can go.  
I said, young man, when you're short on your dough.  
You can stay there, and I'm sure you will find  
Many ways to have a good time.  
(All)  
It's fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A.  
It's fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A.  
(Male Lead)_

_They have everything for you men to enjoy,  
You can hang out with all the boys ...  
(All)_

_It's fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A.  
It's fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A._

_(Male Lead)  
You can get yourself clean, you can have a good meal,  
You can do whatever you feel...  
(Male Lead)  
Young man, are you listening to me?  
I said, young man, what do you want to be?  
I said, young man, you can make real your dreams.  
But you got to know this one thing!  
No man does it all by himself.  
I said, young man, put your pride on the shelf,  
And just go there, to the Y.M.C.A.  
I'm sure they can help you today.  
(All)  
It's fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A.  
It's fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A.  
(Male Lead)  
They have everything for you men to enjoy,  
You can hang out with all the boys...  
(All)  
It's fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A.  
It's fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A.  
(Male Lead)  
You can get yourself clean, you can have a good meal,  
You can do whatever you feel ...  
(Male Lead)  
Young man, I was once in your shoes.  
I said, I was down and out with the blues.  
I felt no man cared if I were alive.  
I felt the whole world was so jive ...  
That's when someone came up to me,  
And said, young man, take a walk up the street.  
There's a place there called the Y.M.C.A.  
They can start you back on your way.  
(All)  
It's fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A.  
It's fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A.  
(Male Lead)  
They have everything for you men to enjoy,  
You can hang out with all the boys...  
(All)  
Y.M.C.A...you'll find it at the Y.M.C.A.  
(Male Lead)  
Young man, young man, there's no need to feel down.  
Young man, young man, get yourself off the ground.  
(All)  
Y.M.C.A...you'll find it at the Y.M.C.A.  
(Male Lead)  
Young man, young man, there's no need to feel down.  
Young man, young man, get yourself off the ground.  
(All)  
Y.M.C.A...just go to the Y.M.C.A.  
(Male Lead)  
Young man, young man, are you listening to me?  
Young man, young man, what do you wanna be?_

With the last lyrics out of the way, the song ended with a final instrumental playing of the titular notes and then ended with a loud show stopping finish. The audience cheered as the Aural Intensity club stood stock still and basked in the applause before eventually bowing.

As this unfolded, Mr. Schuester examined the New Directions members, and was happy to see that all of them had fake horrified and nervous looks on their faces. He smiled, proud of them for how well they were doing with their performance in fooling Sue and Charlotte.

A few minutes later, the Aural Intensity club left the stage, and a different club took its place on the stage.

The announcer stated, "I hope you enjoyed that last performance, because this next performance will send you boogieing out on the street until you drop! Let's give a warm welcome for our next competitor! From Defiance, Ohio, the Unitards!"

Within seconds, the Unitards turned to face the audience, and then masterfully began dancing to the music that started playing at the same time. The New Directions, much to Mr. Schuester's delight, were now masterfully pretending to be even more horrified at the recognition of the second song on their supposed set list. Meanwhile, Harmony, former member turned director of the club, smiled as she watched her students begin their epic performance:

_(All)_

_Dance boogie wonderland  
dance boogie wonderland_

_(Boys)  
Midnight creeps so slowly into hearts,  
of men who need more than they get  
daylight deals a bad hand,  
to a woman that has laid to many bets  
(Girls)  
The mirror stares you in the face and says  
"baby, uh uh it don't work"  
you say your prayers through you don't care  
you dance and shake the hurt_

_(All)  
dance boogie wonderland  
dance boogie wonderland  
(All)  
Sound fly through the night  
I chase my vinyl drams to boogie wonderland  
I find romance when I start to dance in boogie wonderland  
I find romance when I start to dance in boogie wonderland  
(Boys)  
All the love in the world can't be gone  
all the need to be loved can't be wrong  
All the records are playing  
and my heart keeps saying  
"boogie wonderland, wonderland"  
(All)_

_Dance boogie wonderland  
dance boogie wonderland_  
_(Girls)  
All the love in the world can't be gone  
all the need to be loved can't be wrong  
All the records are playing  
and my heart keeps saying  
"boogie wonderland, wonderland"  
(All)_

_Dance boogie wonderland  
dance boogie wonderland_

The audience cheered once again at the end of the performance. The Unitards members smiled, and exited the stage while the New Directions got up from their seats and headed back stage like the other glee clubs performing had done. As they left, the announcer spoke, "Weren't they just wonderful? Give it up for the Unitards!" As the audience cheered in response, Charlotte smiled smugly to herself, for now things were going to heat up. However, little did she know that as her peers in the New Directions looked each other in the eyes, they were all smiling happily and in excitement.

. . . . .

Charlotte was in a state of euphoria as she entered the backstage area last. She had done it! Her plan was working perfectly! She couldn't wait to see the looks on the faces of the other glee clubbers as they realized how deeply in trouble they now were. In fact, she was surprised that she couldn't hear the sound of them desperately arguing and likewise coming apart at how big of a fix they were in. Still, sooner or later, things were bound to get super drama-filled, or so she was so eagerly expecting.

Charlotte entered the room with a smug smile on her face and said, "I hope you've said your prayers because you are now . . .," before awkwardly stuttering and eventually going silent when she saw Mr. Schuester and her fellow New Directions members smiling at her with their arms crossed over their chests.

"Ok, why are you so happy all of a sudden?" Charlotte nervously asked.

"You really need to be more careful about setting up your plots. Honestly, you make it way too easy for them to be discovered and foiled," Calvin said with a grin on his face. As if in agreement with his master, Hobbes barked once.

"What do you mean?" Charlotte asked, confused and unsure of what was going on.

"Simple," Daniel chimed in. "Guess what? Those songs that our rival glee clubs just performed . . . turns out, we were never even going to sing them anyway!"

Charlotte's jaw dropped, and her face went white. "What? What do you mean we weren't going to sing those songs?"

"We mean that we were never going to sing them tonight," Diana replied. "That set list Mr. Schue gave us when you were in the room with us? That was the fake set list that Mr. Schuester cooked up for you to give to coach Sylvester as bait. While you were out partying or whatever you do outside of school instead of homework, we all made sure to gather together whenever we got the chance after completing homework and practicing the real set list. Fortunately, the two opening numbers that we chose for real don't heavily involve you, so the fact that you didn't practice for those two won't be a problem."

"What? No!" Charlotte yelled.

"Oh yes!" Cody yelled "and I'm really proud of myself for thinking of putting _Boogie Wonderland_ on the fake set list! I knew that the fake set list would be convincing with that song on there since that's one of my favorite songs!"

"You've got that right Cody," Mr. Schuester said. "Well Charlotte, I'm afraid that your plot has once again been foiled. Did you really think I'd fall for this trick twice?"

Charlotte gaped at the teacher, stunned beyond words. Eventually, with reluctance, she acknowledged her defeat and joined up with the other members of the New Directions.

Smiling, Mr. Schuester said, "Alright everyone! Show circle!"

The New Directions joined up together in their famous show circle, and at the count of three, they all shouted out, "Let's do this!"

. . . . .

Back in the frontal area of the auditorium, the audience was eagerly anticipating when the final performance began. Emma and Sue were especially excited as they awaited what was to come. Eventually, the wait ended when the audience heard the announcer say, "And now, last but not least, the defending Nationals champions, our own McKinley High, New Directions!" The audience cheered enthusiastically at the sound of those words.

Emma clasped her hands together in front of her in anticipation and said, "This is going to be so good."

Sue, meanwhile, chuckled, and said to herself, "I can't wait to see how surprised the audience will be when they get a repeat of what they just listened to earlier."

Unfortunately, Sue was doomed to be disappointed in that regard, for the music that the McKinley High band started playing sounded nothing like that of _YMCA_ or _Boogie Wonderland_. In fact, it actually sounded, much to the audience's delight, like that of a very well loved song by Carrie Underwood. Sue's eyes opened wide in shock, for she had most certainly not been expecting this. Eventually, the spot light went over to an entrance to the auditorium, and the audience turned their heads just in time to see Diana Eberhart walk through the curtain covering the entrance, dressed up in the blue dress that had been the selected attire for the New Directions girls for this Sectionals performance.

Seconds later, Diana started singing as she walked down the aisle through the seats towards the stage:

_Dry lightning cracks across the skies  
Those storm clouds gather in her eyes  
Her daddy was a mean old mister  
Mama was an angel in the ground  
The weather man called for a twister  
She prayed blow it down  
There's not enough rain in Oklahoma  
To wash the sins out of that house  
There's not enough wind in Oklahoma  
To rip the nails out of the past_

Right as Diana finished singing the last lines before the chorus, Diana reached the stage and got on it to join the waiting fellow New Directions members already there just in time to sing out:

_Shatter every window 'til it's all blown away,  
Every brick, every board, every slamming door blown away  
'Til there's nothing left standing, nothing left of yesterday  
Every tear-soaked whiskey memory blown away,  
Blown away  
She heard those sirens screaming out  
Her daddy laid there passed out on the couch  
She locked herself in the cellar  
Listened to the screaming of the wind  
Some people call it taking shelter  
She called it sweet revenge  
Shatter every window 'til it's all blown away,  
Every brick, every board, every slamming door blown away  
'Til there's nothing left standing, nothing left of yesterday  
Every tear-soaked whiskey memory blown away,  
Blown away  
There's not enough rain in Oklahoma  
To wash the sins out of that house  
There's not enough wind in Oklahoma  
To rip the nails out of the past  
Shatter every window 'til it's all blown away (New Directions: blown away)  
Every brick, every board, every slamming door blown away (New Directions: blown away)  
'Til there's nothing left standing, nothing left of yesterday (New Directions: blown away)  
Every tear-soaked whiskey memory blown away,  
Blown away, blown away, blown away, blown away, blown away_

The audience cheered deafeningly the minute Diana had finished her performance, for they couldn't help but admit that the girl standing at the front of the stage in front of all the other members of her club had certainly did an excellent job, just like the New Directions alumna that she just happened to resemble.

Seconds later, Diana walked over to the side to take her place among the other girls while Daniel, Calvin, and Zack stepped forward and took their places at around the area where she'd been standing with their heads bowed. The three boys, like the other guys in the New Directions, were dressed in dark black attire with crimson red ties. Immediately after the boys positioned themselves at the front of the stage so that Daniel was standing slightly in front of and in between Calvin and Zack, the lights dimmed, and the music for the next number began. The audience held its breath as it recognized the song that was now playing. Within seconds, the performance began:

_(Daniel)_

_I used to rule the world  
Seas would rise when I gave the word  
Now in the morning I sleep alone  
Sweep the streets I used to own  
(Calvin)  
I used to roll the dice  
Feel the fear in my enemy's eyes  
Listen as the crowd would sing  
"Now the old king is dead! Long live the king!"  
(Zack)  
One minute I held the key  
Next the walls were closed on me  
And I discovered that my castles stand  
Upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand  
(All)  
I hear Jerusalem bells are ringing  
Roman Cavalry choirs are singing  
Be my mirror, my sword and shield  
My missionaries in a foreign field  
(Daniel)  
For some reason I can't explain  
Once you go there was never_

_Never an honest word  
And that was when I ruled the world  
It was the wicked and wild wind  
Blew down the doors to let me in  
Shattered windows and the sound of drums  
People couldn't believe what I'd become  
(Calvin)  
Revolutionaries wait  
For my head on a silver plate  
Just a puppet on a lonely string  
Oh, who would ever wanna be king?  
(All)  
I hear Jerusalem bells are ringing  
Roman Cavalry choirs are singing  
Be my mirror, my sword and shield  
My missionaries in a foreign field  
(Calvin)  
For some reason I can't explain  
I know Saint Peter won't call my name  
Never an honest word  
But that was when I ruled the world  
(All)  
Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh  
I hear Jerusalem bells are ringing  
Roman Cavalry choirs are singing  
Be my mirror, my sword and shield  
My missionaries in a foreign field  
(Daniel)  
For some reason I can't explain  
I know Saint Peter won't call my name  
(All)_

_Never an honest word  
But that was when I ruled the world_

The audience applauded even more enthusiastically then they had for the performance prior as the lights pointed at the stage brightened up again, and the three boys waved and bowed. The only people who weren't applauding were Harmony and the director of Aural Intensity. Both of them were glaring daggers at Sue, who could only awkwardly grin nervously at them. This was going to be hard to explain. When the applause ended, all thirteen New Directions members were already gathered together on the stage for the grand finale.

When the band started playing the music for the finale, the audience oohed and awed as they recognized the old Jersey Boys classic. When the time was right, the New Directions eagerly began:

_(All)_

_Who loves you pretty baby,  
Who's gonna help you through the night?  
Who loves you pretty mama,  
Who's always there to make it right?  
Who loves you pretty baby,  
Who's gonna help you through the night?  
Who loves you pretty mama,  
Who's always there to make it right?  
Who loves you,_

_(Daniel)  
Who loves you pretty baby?  
Who's gonna love you mama?  
(All)  
Who loves you,_

_(Daniel)  
Who loves you pretty baby?  
When tears are in your eyes,  
And you can't find the way.  
(Diana)  
It's hard to make believe,  
You're happy when you're gray.  
(Calvin)  
Baby when you're feelin' like,  
You'll never see the mornin' light.  
(Susan)  
Come to me,  
Baby, you'll see.  
(All)  
Who loves you pretty baby,  
Who's gonna help you through the night?  
Who loves you pretty mama,  
Who's always there to make it?  
Who loves you,_

_(Daniel)  
Who's gonna love you, love you?  
Who's gonna love you?  
(All)  
Who loves you,_

_(Daniel)  
Who's gonna love you, love you?  
Who's gonna love you?  
(All)  
Baby,  
Baby,  
Doot-doo-doot.  
(Daniel)  
Come to me,  
Baby, you'll see.  
(All)  
Who loves you pretty baby,  
Who's gonna help you through the night?  
Who loves you pretty mama,  
Who's always there to make it?  
Who loves you,  
(Daniel)_

_Who loves you pretty baby?_

_(All)_

_Who's gonna love you, love you?_

_(Daniel)_

_Who's gonna love you momma?_

_(All)  
Who's gonna love you?  
Who loves you,  
Who's gonna love you, love you?_

_Aw! Oh, aw!_

The applause that followed the performance was so deafening that Calvin very nearly covered his ears from sensory overload. Eventually, when the applause toned down in volume slightly, Calvin, carried away by the excitement of having impressed the audience so much, abruptly let out a triumphant, lion-like roar. Hobbes, just like he'd been trained, immediately howled like a wolf in accompaniment.

For a brief moment afterward, the audience was silent. The New Directions members gaped at Calvin in shock and incredulousness. Charlotte, meanwhile, had a wolfish grin on her face as she saw Calvin's face go white in horror at what he had done despite how hard he'd worked to try to prevent this from happening. "Perhaps maybe we'll be in 3rd place after all," she thought smugly to herself.

After a tense and heart stopping moment of silence that seemed like an eternity, the audience suddenly cheered again even louder than before. The New Directions members started nervously laughing in shock and relief as they saw how even the judges were applauding the unexpected, but enjoyable, beastly victory call. Charlotte gaped at the scene, stunned at how Calvin's screw up had actually strengthened the club's public image. John and Miles also gaped in surprise from the audience at the scene unfolding around them. They too had been gazing wolfishly at the sight of Calvin all white-faced and horrified by the screw-up, and were very shocked indeed that the screw up had now made the New Directions even more likable in the eyes of the audience.

Before long, the audience members all started shouting "Rock and roar!" repeatedly. The New Directions members smiled and waved, and Calvin was especially happy as he waved and bowed repeatedly to the audience. Eventually, the New Directions finally managed to leave the stage.

The announcer then boomed out, "Now that was a roaring success!" The crowd went wild. "All right everyone," the announcer continued "let's allow the judges to discuss the results. I hope you're all looking forward to when the results are announced!"

. . . . .

A few minutes later, in the area where the judges were meeting, the three judges were seated at a table; each one waiting for one of the other judges to start speaking first. They knew that they'd have to make careful consideration before they made their decision on which club scored which place.

Eventually, Rod Remington decided to go first, and he stated, "Well I can definitely say that we certainly got exposed to a fun series of performances tonight boys."

"Understatement of the century!" Bryan Ryan yelled. "They were incredible!"

"That they were," said Al Motta. "I for one can definitely say that the New Directions are at the very least just as wonderful as they were when my daughter was a student at this school, if not better."

"Well I definitely have something to say about the New Directions," said Rod.

"Oh don't even think about it," Al interrupted. "There is no way that we're going to even think about putting them in last place just because of how one of the members roared like a lion. My daughter has self-diagnosed Asperger's Syndrome, and I've seen plenty of actual autistics in my lifetime that have engaged in similar behaviors. If we put that club in last place just because of what that Autistic boy did, it will look as if we were discriminating against people on the spectrum, and that's a hate crime!"

"You've got that right!" Bryan Ryan chimed in. "Besides, he could actually make a pretty convincing lion if he were cast to perform in The Lion King! And that's if he doesn't end up becoming a person who works with animals, and believe me, for all we know he could be an animal whisperer!"

"Well good thing I wasn't thinking of doing what you were assuming I was about to do," Rod said with a completely straight face, and quite unabashed. His fellow judges sighed in relief.

"In fact," Remington said "I was about to say that I think they ranked highest on my list tonight due to how they at least performed more than just one song."

"You've certainly got that right," Bryan eagerly stated in agreement.

Rod then said, "However, we should still discuss the other show choir groups that performed tonight before we just cast our vote straight to the New Directions you know." The other judges reluctantly agreed.

"Let's start with Aural Intensity," said Rod. "I have to admit, I've always found _YMCA_ to be a real crowd pleaser."

"It is indeed a crowd pleaser, and a popular one at that. But it is rather retro for today, and not always in a good way," Bryan replied.

"You've got that right Bryan," said Al. "Besides, look at the Unitards, they at least sang a song that was used in a popular movie from this century."

The other judges looked at Al with confused looks on their faces. Al clarified, "You know, it was used in _Happy Feet_." The others judges made a silent "oh," as they realized that the song sung by the Unitards had indeed been used in the _Happy Feet_ movie.

Bryan chimed in, "Well yes, I can definitely give them points for using a song used in a popular movie, but they would definitely have earned more points from me if they'd at least added a show tune to their set list. And let's not forget that the Unitards relied too much on group dynamic. They didn't even have the decency to have any of their individual members have a solo."

"Oh I agree with you there. Their set list, and that of Aural Intensity was much too short. Besides, while Aural Intensity had a short set list, it at least took a hint from New Directions by having one of their members be a soloist. The New Directions on the other hand, they knew how to extend the time the audience had to enjoy seeing them perform. I have to admit that the girl who sang the opening number really struck me in the heart with her performance of _Blown Away_, and in a good way." Rod replied with a happy smile on his face.

Al chimed in, "She certainly did good with that performance, not to mention she bears uncanny resemblance to one of my daughter's peers from when she was in that club. I also must admit that I enjoyed that performance of _Viva la Vida_. I think it is a very inspiring song to teach a lesson about being careful with how you use your power from a position that provides you with considerable amounts of it."

"I loved both of those performances, but I really enjoyed their performance of Who Loves You from Jersey Boys. I was actually once cast in one of the leading roles of that play, so the New Directions sure knew how to score points with me," said Bryan.

"Well you all seem to have your minds made up, but for the sake of protocol, I guess we'd better go ahead and put this to a vote," Rod said with a smile.

"About time," Bryan said as he and the other judges drew out their ballots and began to cast their votes on where each of the glee clubs that had performed that night deserved to be placed.

. . . . .

The three clubs were standing patiently on the stage, shaking with anticipation as they waited for the judges to return from the lounge where they discussing the results and announce the winner. The audience, meanwhile, was sitting patiently in excitement as they too awaited for the announcement of the winner.

As she waited for the judges to come alongside her fellow glee clubbers, Diana turned her head to Daniel and whispered, "Do you think we won?"

Daniel spread his hands out in an "I don't know" gesture, and said, "Who knows? I hope we won more than ever considering that this is my first Sectionals competition, and I doubt that Finn Hudson would be very proud of me if we lost."

Calvin, meanwhile, was shaking even more than his peers, because despite the enthusiastic response that had come from the audience and judges over his roaring, he was still very nervous about the possibility of his major screw up badly affecting the outcome of the competition for him and his friends in the New Directions. "If we lose, it will be all my fault," he thought to himself as he struggled to hold himself together.

Susan tightly held onto Calvin's hand, doing her best to assure him that everything would be fine, but even she was worried about how Calvin's roaring at the end of their performance might affect the outcome of the contest for them. Even Hobbes seemed nervous since he was completely silent as he glanced around the room.

Meanwhile, Harmony and the director of Aural Intensity were glaring accusingly at Sue. They now had a very good feeling that they'd been taken for a ride, and they knew that Sue was to blame for this somehow. "Oh well," Harmony thought to herself "if we lose to the New Directions, it will be because they deserve it for doing this the honest way rather than getting involved in a game of cheating." She then smiled to herself as she optimistically thought, "Oh well, there's always next season."

Eventually, the audience and the show choir groups cheered as they saw the judges exit from behind the stage and come up onto the front of the stage. The three judges waved at the applauding audience, basking in the praise until Bryan Ryan finally got them to calm down with gestures. From behind the judges, came a trio of stage hands. Each of the three was holding a small award. While two of the stage hands carried massive trophies, the third and final of the stage hands was holding a smaller trophy that was half the size of each of the other two that was obviously going to be given to the glee club that was in 3rd place.

Bryan Ryan took up a microphone and exclaimed, "I hope you had fun watching these stupendous performances tonight everyone!" The audience cheered.

"Ah," Bryan continued "it sure has been a long time indeed since I last stood right here on this stage in the glee club here. Sure, it was under a different name at the time, and under the leadership of one Lillian Adler, but those memories are still living on perfectly to this day with the New Directions!" The audience cheered even louder.

Bryan raised his hand to calm the audience down. "Alright now, the time has come, to announce the results of the 2035 Sectionals competition!"

The audience held its breath and leaned forward in anticipation.

Smiling, Bryan Ryan drew out a sheet of paper that held the name of the 3rd place recipient, and stated, "In 3rd place, we have . . .," he paused briefly for dramatic effect "Aural Intensity!"

The audience cheered, as did the Unitards and New Directions members, who were very relieved to not be the ones in 3rd place, but happy that Aural Intensity had done good nonetheless." The director and members of Aural Intensity, stoically accepted the 3rd place trophy, and bowed to the audience.

After the applause ended, Bryan Ryan turned his head back to face the audience once more. "And now, the moment you've all been waiting for! In 1st place, we have . . .," he paused once again for dramatic effect.

As the seconds went by in waiting, the New Directions and Unitards stood shaking with anticipation and nervousness as they waited desperately for confirmation on which of them had won Sectionals that year and would move onto Regionals. The audience also held its breath.

After what seemed like an eternity, Bryan Ryan continued, "With a roaring success, the New Directions!"

The ecstatic applause that burst out from the audience and the New Directions members was so loud that Sue could barely hear herself think as she watched Bryan Ryan pick up the 1st place Sectionals Trophy and hand it over to Mr. Schuester while all the New Directions members apart from Charlotte cheered, jumped around, and likewise celebrated their victory. The Unitards stood idly by, stoically nodding their heads as they accepted that they had done their best, but would have to wait for another season. "Oh well, 2nd place is better than 3rd," Harmony thought to herself as she smiled at the victorious show choir group standing to her right, and remembering when she herself had performed against them in the Sectionals competition 23 years prior when she herself had been a member rather than the director.

Meanwhile, soon after handing the trophy to Will, Bryan leaned over and whispered into Will's ear, "I never did thank you for helping me get my life back and restoring my faith in the arts."

Will smiled, gave Bryan a fist bump, and replied, "Your welcome. I was happy to help. Thank you by the way, for not cutting the club 25 years ago."

Bryan smiled, gave Will a hearty slap on the back, and said, "Your welcome old buddy. I'm actually quite relieved now that I didn't cut this club. I doubt Mrs. Adler would have been very proud of me."

"She probably would be furious," Will agreed.

Bryan chuckled, gave Will a parting fist bump, and turned away before saying, "I hope you enjoy your victory tonight Will! I wish you the best of luck at Regionals!" With that, Bryan Ryan rejoined his fellow judges, and the three men who'd worked as the judges for this competition left the auditorium. Nearly half an hour later, the auditorium was completely empty.

. . . . .

Daniel was in a state of euphoria. He had done it! He and his new friends in the New Directions had won their first competition and would be performing at Regionals! "Finn Hudson would definitely be proud," he thought to himself as he and the other gleeks walked through the hall, cheering in delight as they celebrated their victory.

Mr. and Mrs. Schuester walked along behind the thirteen happy teenagers, hand in hand, with smiles on their own faces as they thought of how well this brand new generation of New Directions had done in their first competition.

As they headed down the hall, they were briefly stopped by Principal Figgins. The Indian American smiled warmly, and said, "Congratulations to you all. You have honored the memory of the New Directions perfectly tonight with your victory. I wish you the best of luck at Regionals William."

"Thanks Figgins," said Will. "We'll make sure to do our best."

The principal smiled, and headed back to his office to the parking lot.

The next person to briefly stop the New Directions and congratulate them was Coach Shannon Bieste.

"Now that was amazing!" She shouted. "I'm especially proud of you lion tamer," she said to Daniel. "I knew Finn Hudson well, and he is definitely going to be proud of you!"

"Thanks coach," Daniel said with a smile.

"You're welcome, and good luck at Regionals! Rock and roar!"

"Rock and roar!" the New Directions members yelled heartily in response. Coach Bieste chuckled happily and continued down the hall to gather her supplies and leave.

For another while longer, the New Directions members continued down the hall, eager to get their belongings so they could return home and rest. However, one more member of the faculty stood waiting for them in the hallway in the way between them and the choir room; Sue Sylvester.

Sue Sylvester had her arms folded across her chest, and she shaking her head side to side with a blank look on her face. At the sight of her, the New Directions members felt very intimidated, especially Charlotte, who cringed as she realized how much she had now failed her coach. Mr. Schuester gazed blankly at Sue, patiently awaiting what she had to say.

"How did you do it this time Schuester?" Sue asked with a completely straight face. "You didn't even have an intermission. How did you manage to prepare a whole new back-up set list in just five minutes?"

Mr. Schuester smiled, and said, "We didn't. That set list you were given was a fake that I had prepared when I learned about your plot. I had to admit that the honest members of this club had to work very hard indeed to practice the numbers in the fake set list while around Charlotte and then practice what was on the real set list whenever Charlotte wasn't around, but in the end, I'd say that all that hard work appears to have been worthwhile."

Sue shook her head side to side, and then stated, "I should have guessed that you wouldn't fall for that trick twice. Still, how did you even know about the plot this time? I certainly never asked for a copy of any set lists, and I'm pretty sure that none of my cheerios told you anything about wanting to give one to me." As she said this, she looked directly at Charlotte, the look on her face clearly asking whether or not she had let any information about the plot slip. Charlotte shook her head, and spread her arms out helplessly to her sides.

Mr. Schuester smiled, and replied, "Let's just say that I have my sources, just like you have yours."

Sue sighed, nodded her head, and replied, "So you do. Well, it appears you have beaten me yet again Schuester."

"Yes, that it does," Mr. Schuester responded.

"How do you keep managing to beat me in the end? Even when the glee club appears to have been wiped off the face of the Earth, your club has always just kept rising back up stronger than ever. How does this keep happening?"

"Chance, loopholes, technicalities, but most of all luck," Mr. Schuester replied, and he had to admit that he was certainly telling the truth there.

Sue chuckled, and said, "Well, a wise person always knows when he or she is beaten, and I guess I'm beaten."

"Correct on both counts," replied Mr. Schuester.

"Yes indeed," Emma chimed in.

Mr. Schuester chuckled, and said to Sue, "So? How long shall I wait before your next little game?"

Sue chuckled, and replied, "To tell you the truth, I'm thinking I'm really too old for these games at this point."

"So we're on truce?"

"For now, and likely for good this time," Sue responded. And likely she truly was finished this time she thought to herself, for she wasn't getting any younger. At this point, there was really no point in trying to trick people into thinking she was in her forties or thirties. At this point from the way she now looked, no one would be fooled. "Besides," she thought to herself "I guess it's about time I go on an extended vacation from all this anti-glee club warfare."

Mr. Schuester smiled, and said, "Well I'm glad that we're friends again."

Emma and the New Directions students smiled. Even Charlotte gave a small smile as she realized that she wouldn't be punished for her failure in her latest plot that she'd gotten her coach involved in.

"Well Schuester," Sue said before tapping her long-time on/off rival and friend and stating, "Good luck at Regionals. You're former students would be so proud of you now." Immediately after she said this, Sue gently made her way past the group and headed off down the hall to get to the parking lot and leave.

Mr. Schuester smiled as he watched Sue go. "She's earned this break," he thought to himself. He turned to his new generation of glee club students, and said, "Alright everyone! Let's get back to the choir room and get your things. Come winter break, and we'll all be having a much deserved break from all this practicing before we start preparing for Regionals next year!" The New Directions cheered, and they all immediately resumed making their way to the Choir room to get their supplies before leaving to go home and have a long rest. They'd truly earned it now after this wonderful night of performances, especially since it had been on a Friday. Already they couldn't wait for Regionals, though admittedly, they certainly wouldn't mind whatever assignments Mr. Schue came up for them in the weeks of school that were left between this day (which just happened to be the last day of November) and the three weeks in December that preceded winter break, not to mention the actual winter break.

**Well there you have it Gleeks! The New Directions have won Sectionals and will be proceeding to Regionals! :) And even better, not only is Sue Sylvester once again on good terms with the gleeks (sorry if you think I resolved that arc a little too soon :/), but now it will be a whole lot more fun for everyone when the New Directions alumni arrive to shake things up for the reunion. Speaking of which, coming up on the next update, we shall briefly go back to the 3rd person perspective of Finn before then going into that of two New Directions alumni who didn't become members of the New Directions until early on in season 4. Would you like to guess which ones? (Klaineforeverlover07, please don't kill me!) Well anyway, please read, review, enjoy, and please (I mean PLEASE) review and place votes on my poll! :)**


	20. More Friends than you Know

**Aloha! Here's the newest update! I hope you all enjoy! I intended to post this yesterday, but I ran out of time. To make up for that, I'm going to post both this one, and the intended update for today in a double update! Please read and review!**

**In this chapter, Finn receives the news about Sectionals, and Marley and Jake make a decision on whether or not to go the reunion. What will their answer be?**

**Chapter 20:**

**More Friends than you Know**

"Well congratulations Mr. Schue. I had a feeling you would succeed at Sectionals. You always have and always will," said Finn, a smile on his face as he unconsciously remembered how happy he himself had been during his time in the New Directions every time they had won Sectionals or any other competition.

It was 8:30 in the morning on the day directly after Sectionals, and at that particular moment in time, Finn was sitting comfortably on the couch in his living room. Finn had already had his breakfast, dressed, and prepared himself to watch the news when he'd gotten the call from Mr. Schuester. Upon receiving the call, the two acquaintances had said hello and almost immediately started discussing the previous day's Sectionals competition afterward. Mr. Schuester, of course, had happily pointed out that the New Directions had won 1st place.

"Thank you very much Finn," Mr. Schuester said on the other end in response to Finn's compliment. Finn could hear the pride in his former teacher and co-director's voice with crystal clarity, and he grinned at the sound of it. He knew how even after 22 years since the New Directions' humiliating loss at Sectionals, Mr. Schuester still had the nagging fear that the New Directions might lose a competition again at some point. Fortunately, this time hadn't been that point.

"You're welcome Mr. Schue," Finn replied. "I'll bet that the others will be very proud of you when I tell them the good news. Now I know that we won't be visiting you and your new group of students at McKinley for nothing."

"I was just about to ask you about that matter," Mr. Schuester chimed in. "How are things going with getting the reunion set up?"

Finn chuckled, and responded, "Well, I've sent invitations to everyone that was in the club during my senior year as well as the five members who joined in the year directly after graduation thanks to Rachel and Kurt's assistance. As of last Sunday, all fifteen of the other members from the club alongside me during my senior year have now confirmed that they will indeed be coming. I still don't know for sure about Marley, Ryder, or any of the others from after my graduation, but I'm hoping to get a straight answer from them soon enough."

"That's good to hear. Well tell them all that I said hi Finn."

"Will do," Finn replied.

"Thanks Finn. Well enjoy your weekend, and I hope you enjoy the upcoming holiday season!"

"Don't you worry, it's impossible for me to not enjoy the Christmas season. I'll be looking forward to seeing you and the rest of the gang this coming January."

"Took the words right out of my mouth," Mr. Schuester replied. "Well, I'll talk to you later! Have fun!"

"Goodbye Mr. Schuester. I will," Finn responded before hanging up the phone.

Upon placing his cell phone back in his pants pocket, Finn leaned back on his couch and sighed in content as he thought of how much he was looking forward to hanging out in Lima with all his friends from the glee club during his senior year, and possibly with those from directly after graduating.

He smiled as he remembered reading the enthusiastic replies that everyone from his senior year that he'd invited through mail invitations had sent. The thought of how they'd all be together again like the family of friends they'd once been was now enough to make Finn eagerly anticipate the coming New Year. Of course, he wasn't going to wish away Christmas.

Even as he had that thought, Finn's smile widened as he thought of how he was going to start making preparations for the holiday right this very day. He'd always loved the smell of pine trees, and the thought of that delightful smell now reminded him of the three truly heartwarming Christmases he'd gone through with his friends from the New Directions. As he had that particular thought, he grinned as he unconsciously began to wonder what his friends from the New Directions would send him, for they had mentioned in their recent letters, texts, and phone calls to him that his gifts this Christmas would make him very happy indeed. In fact, he himself also had an idea for a gift that he could send to all of his friends that he hoped would make them happy.

After a while, Finn got up from his couch and headed over to the kitchen to grab his wallet and car keys. "Now's probably as good of a time as ever to get the tree and start decorating," he thought to himself as he stuffed his wallet in his pants pocket with his phone and grabbed his keys. With his keys and wallet at the ready, Finn headed over to his car, the same Jeep Cherokee that he'd taken Rachel to the train station after their graduation to set her free to New York to pursue her Broadway dreams at NYADA.

At the thought of that particular memory of Rachel, Finn smiled as a wave of other memories of Rachel and his other friends from the New Directions during his senior year at McKinley flooded back into his mind. Still smiling, he got into his car, set the GPS coordinates for the nearest shop that was selling trees, and started on his way, eager to get his Christmas preparations over with in time for when his friends sent him their upcoming tokens of friendship to him this year.

Even as he thought of his friends from his high school senior year, he began to wonder about how Marley, Jake, Ryder, Kitty, and Unique still hadn't replied to his invites to the reunion. He knew that despite how they all lived relatively far away from Lima, all the affirmative replies that he'd received so far had all come to him either within a few days, a few weeks, a few seconds in regard to Rachel and Kurt, or only one month in Rory's case. However, it had now been at least four months since he'd sent invitations to all his friends from the glee club in August, and he still hadn't received any reply from the five New Directions members that had joined during the first year after his graduating from McKinley High. "What could be taking them so long?" Finn thought to himself as he drove along the road to get to where the Christmas trees were being sold. "They'd have to have gotten them by now."

Eventually, he told himself to just be patient. "After all," he thought to himself. "They could have a perfectly legitimate reason to have not yet replied. Besides, I've got one month left to wait before the New Year, and when the New Year begins, the reunion starts in three weeks. I can wait for a while longer for their replies."

. . . . .

Marley Rose was sitting at the kitchen table in her San Francisco apartment where she lived with her boyfriend and business partner Jake Puckerman. In her hands, was a letter. Normally these days, the letters she and Jake received were usually simple fan mail from enthusiastic or obsessive fans. For this letter, however, that was most certainly not the case.

The letter that Marley was now holding in her hands, was from none other than Finn Hudson, alumnus of McKinley High who had served as a co-director of the New Directions glee club during her sophomore year at that same school. In fact, Finn had actually become a very good friend to her to the point that she'd been instrumental in inspiring him to go to college for a teaching degree after he'd been forced to leave McKinley by Mr. Schuester, who had still been angry at him at the time for how he'd in a way nearly sabotaged the relationship between him and his then fiancé, Mrs. Pillsbury, by mistake.

When Mr. Schuester had finally forgiven Finn and Finn himself had come back to McKinley to begin his college-student career as co-director, very few of the New Directions members at the time had been happier to see him than herself. The same applied to when she'd learned from Mr. Schuester about the news of Finn graduating at the top of his class from the University of Lima with a teaching degree and scoring a post as American Literature teacher at the Lima Senior High School.

As she had the thought, Marley smiled as she thought of how she herself had also achieved one of her lifelong dreams, which was being a famous recording artist on the radio. Even now she still couldn't believe how popular some of the very same original songs she'd written while still in high school were such great hits on the radio these days. However, the ones she was especially proud of were _Outcasts_ and _All or Nothing_. Those were, in her opinion, the best songs she'd ever written while still a teenager.

Now, as she read the letter she and Jake had received from Finn three months ago for the 17th time, she smiled as she thought of how much fun it would be to spend some quality time with Finn, her friends from the glee club during her high school, and even with some of Finn's friends who'd been in the glee club alongside him long before she'd been a member of the New Directions herself. "Besides," she thought to herself with a smile, "I know that Jake would certainly enjoy chilling with Puck."

However, even as she had the thought, her smile faded when she remembered once again how the time that Finn had scheduled for the Lima phase of the reunion was the exact same date that had already been booked for her and Jake to go on a tour of her newest released album. She sighed at the memory, for she knew that she'd worked very hard in producing the songs and the album and was eagerly looking forward to putting it on tour. Still, she knew how much fun it would be to hang out in Lima, Ohio with Finn and the other New Directions members that came for the reunion. Unfortunately, she knew that it would be far too difficult to reschedule the tour at this point, and that she didn't have the heart to say no to Finn. What made that matter even worse, was that she had a very good feeling that not giving an answer to Finn's invitation would be even worse than sending a reply that said an outright no to her coming to the New Directions reunion that he'd set up.

Marley was jarred out of her thoughts about the matter when she heard the door to the apartment open. Without even looking to see who'd come in, she said, "You're home early."

Jake, who indeed had been the one who'd just entered, rolled his eyes and replied, "How do you do that? Honestly, just from the evidence of hearing the door open and someone come in, the person could be anyone just as easily as it could be me."

Marley rolled her eyes, turned her head to face Jake, and responded, "Jake. You have been the only one to enter this apartment while I'm still here in the past for the last 100 or so times. Give me a little credit for guessing that you'd do it again."

Jake chuckled, shaking his head side to side as he proceeded through the apartment and into the kitchen, where he set his work bags down before grabbing a banana and taking the seat across from Marley.

As Jake chowed down on the banana, he noticed what Marley had in her hands and asked innocently, "Let me guess, Finn's invitation?"

"You got that in a nutshell Jake," Marley replied.

Jake chuckled, his dark eyes appearing to glow in pleasure as he thought of how much fun it would be to hang out in Lima with Finn and Puck and all of his other friends from the New Directions glee club. As he had the thought, he instinctively remembered how he and Marley were still undecided about whether or not they'd go, and said, "You do realize that we're going to have to come up with a solid decision to send to Finn pretty soon right?"

Marley sighed, her eyes clouding over as she was reminded once again about her current dilemma over that matter, and responded, "I know that Jake, but I really don't think that we'll be able to go. It's too late now to reschedule the tour and it's not going to end until one week before Regionals, and I don't think that would be a good time for us to just show up at Lima without distracting Finn and the others from helping prepare the New Directions for Regionals."

"Then that's what we tell him; plain and simple," Jake replied with his hands spread out in a 'win-win' gesture. "I'm sure he'd understand."

"But he's worked so hard to set this up, and he even put in the effort to learn our addresses so that he could personally send us an invitation to it. He'd probably be heartbroken if we told him that we couldn't come after he's worked so hard to invite us."

"He'd probably be even more heartbroken if he had to find out the hard way after he spends who knows how long waiting for us to arrive only for us to never show up without even telling him that we couldn't come," Jake responded patiently.

Marley sighed, for she knew that Jake had raised a very valid point. "Well I guess that's true, but I just don't have the heart to just outright say no to him. I barely even knew him the first time I met him, and then he was practically like a father to me by the time I convinced him to go to college to get his teaching degree. I still think of him as the father I never had even now, and as his friend, I really ought to repay him for that friendship by taking the chance to hang out with him after all this time. I just think that by refusing his invitation, he might feel as if I've let him down and vice versa."

Jake sighed, for Marley had come back very powerfully with her own valid point. Then he had an idea.

"Tell you what," he said "May I look over the invitation again?"

"Sure, here you go," Marley replied as she handed the invitation to Jake.

Jake grasped the letter in his golden bronze toned hands and carefully read what it said. After reading through it at least thrice, he nodded, and turned it around so that Marley could see what was typed in the letter.

"Well, as you definitely know, our tour is scheduled to begin on the same day in January that Finn scheduled to be the day that the reunion in Lima begins," Jake stated.

"That I do," said Marley.

"Well with that in mind, I do believe that you haven't forgotten that our tour ends on the first week of May, the week before Regionals."

"Indeed."

"Good. Also, from having read Finn's letter at least 17 times or so now, you probably should remember that he said right here in the letter that he and the others would gather together in New York three weeks later for a second part to the reunion so that they could be there to help out the New Directions when they practice for Nationals, which of course are there in New York City."

At the sound of that, Marley whistled and sheepishly looked towards the ceiling. She had completely forgotten that little detail.

Jake grinned at the sight of this, and continued, "Well last time I checked, we don't have anything scheduled for when Finn and the others come to New York City. Therefore, in our reply to this invitation, we shall tell Finn that we are unable to join him in Lima, but that we'll hopefully make it up to him by attending the reunion that's in New York City. Sound good?"

Marley shook her head side to side, a smile on her face, and said, "Jake, sometimes you come up with some pretty smart ideas."

Jake chuckled, scratched the top of his head, and replied, "Well, I do come up with those every once in a while."

"Are you referring to the times you do so with Ryder's help, or without?"

Jake sighed, and responded, "The times with Ryder's help don't count. Since he's the one who came up with the ideas those times and gave them to me for use, those situations count as cases of Ryder coming up with smart ideas, not me coming up with them."

Marley laughed good naturedly as Jake once again repeated his disambiguation from the times he'd come up with a smart idea and the times that he'd been assisted by Ryder. Jake rolled his eyes in mock irritation. Eventually, when Marley finally finished laughing, she finally said, "Well, I guess we should go ahead and write that reply message for Finn then. He's certainly waited long enough the way I see it."

"You go ahead," said Jake as he got out of his chair and headed over to the kitchen counter; which just happened to be the current location of a full pan of lasagna that Marley had left on the counter while waiting for the oven to preheat. As he picked up the pan, he said, "While you work on the reply, I'm going to get this lasagna into the oven and finish up the cooking process. I am starving."

"You just had a banana!" Marley yelled in mock irritation.

"Hey! Dancing is very rigorous exercising! It will take more than a single banana to satisfy my need for eating a nice dinner when I come home from teaching at the dance studio! Besides, I know for a fact that you weren't planning on eating all this lasagna on your own!"

Marley laughed again as she got up from her seat and headed over to the office room in the apartment where she knew she kept her note cards and envelopes. "Well that's it," she thought to herself as she made her way to the office room. "I won't be going to Lima, but I'll definitely make sure to be there for Finn in New York!"

**Well there you have it! Sorry if you were hoping for Marley and Jake to join up with Finn and the other season 3 members of New Directions. Also, I apologize immediately to all fans of Ryley or similar people who dislike the Jarley pairing. At the time I came up with this story, I thought that a logical pathway would be Jarley friendly. Therefore, considering what's happened recently on season 5 and how I would certainly enjoy it if Ryder and Marley became an official onscreen couple, I have made a special twist for the final chapter that will come quite some time later. Anyway, please read, review, enjoy, an post on my poll if you're able. :)**

**Coming up next: Kitty, Wade/Unique, and Ryder make their own decisions about whether or not to go to the reunion. How have they been doing? And will they take the same route as Marley and Jake? Or will they be willing to join up with the season 3 gleeks at this time?**


	21. A Mixed Bag

**Hey there! Here's the second chapter of today's double update! I hope you enjoy! Just like promised in the previous chapter, Kitty, Wade/Unique, and Ryder make their decision on whether or not to join the New Directions for the Lima portion of the reunion. What will they have to say on this matter? Read on and find out. (Also: I apologize in advance if any of you dislike what happens, I just believed that what occurs in this chapter for these characters would be logical turns of events at the time I wrote this from what had happened in Season 4).**

**Once again, I do not own Glee.**

**Chapter 21:**

**A Mixed Bag**

Kitty Wilde sighed as she sat down on the couch in her luxurious L.A. apartment, once again reading the invitation that had been sent to her by none other than her boss's old friend, Finn Hudson, who had coincidentally also served as co-director of the glee club that she and her boss had been members of during her high school years.

She sighed again as she remembered her first year as a member of the New Directions, grimacing as she remembered how much of a heartless bully she'd been. In fact, now that she thought about it, she was almost positive that not even Quinn had gone so far as to rig a person's clothing to make that person think he or she was gaining weight. She shuddered at the memory; for she knew now from hindsight that this particular bullying tactic against Marley had been one of the cruelest things she'd ever done.

Even as she had that particular thought, she remembered how she'd also been plenty cruel to many of the other students at McKinley high as well as those who were in the New Directions alongside her. Even Jake had ended up having enough of her cruelty to the point that he'd broken up with her. This of course, had fueled her into being extra cruel to Marley.

Eventually, she had become good friends with all the New Directions members after her bitch attitude had been toned down to a considerably less cruel level by legendary McKinley High playboy alumnus, Noah Puckerman, commonly known as Puck, and half-brother of Jake. Still, the guilt of some of her more cruel antics plagued her to this day, and her malicious prankster ways sometimes still surfaced; a case in point being how she was willing to stick her nose into her boss's personal business with the letter that he himself had received from Finn three months ago.

On the subject of her boss, she still remembered very clearly how later in her sophomore year, she and Artie had thought that they'd been developing romantic feelings for each other. Of course, over time, despite some fun get-togethers between the two of them, it hadn't taken very long for either herself or Artie to move on after Artie's graduation from McKinley High and first year at the New York City film school he'd been accepted into.

Of course, Artie hadn't been the only boy at McKinley that she'd been the objection of attraction for, or had been attracted too for that matter. She remembered how early on in her junior year, she had dated Jake even though she hadn't really actually been all that romantically interested in him anyway just for the fun of dating one of the hottest guys at McKinley High School. Later on, after getting her attitude toned down and accepting Jake's budded relationship with Marley, she had at one point also found herself starting to like Ryder when he had confessed to having once been sexually molested while at a very young age; an experience that she herself was able to relate to. In fact, she had gotten to like him even more when he had actually felt sympathy for her and believed her instead of laughing it off or not believing her like most of her friends at the time, and even her own parents, had done.

On the subject of Ryder, she remembered how bitter she'd felt after Ryder had turned her down for his online love interest, "Katie." But even as she remembered that incident, she remembered how perfectly willing she'd been to comfort him when he'd learned the horrifying news of how the she-man Wade "Unique" Adams had been the one behind the catfishing of Ryder and how she'd been partially responsible for convincing Ryder to rejoin the New Directions in time to start practicing for Nationals that year. She'd even become a close friend of Ryder's long after Artie's graduating from McKinley High, and had remained a close friend of his for a long while after graduating despite the fact that Ryder was living in Cincinnati.

At the memory of what was going on with Ryder's life these days, Kitty sighed again as she remembered how early on in Ryder's relationship with Marissa Fitzgerald, whom he'd first met in high school when he'd thought that she was "Katie," and who had eventually become his girlfriend a few years after his graduating from college with a successful football scholarship, she had not been at her most polite of stages. She grimaced as she remembered how mean and bullying she'd been to Marissa out of jealousy over Ryder, and how her antics towards Marissa had eventually caused Ryder to angrily berate her for how she was treating his girlfriend.

She still occasionally had nightmares about the incident, for she couldn't think of anything that had terrified her more than the indescribably furious look that had been on his face and how tensed up his body had been when he'd stormed his way between her and Marissa, shouted at her angrily, and publicly called her a series of insulting rage-fueled names that had left her stunned by how extensive his vocabulary had become since high school.

Immediately after Ryder had finished his rage-fest against Kitty, he had promptly packed up his things he'd brought along for his friendly visit to her at the time and stormed out of her apartment without even saying goodbye. Marissa had followed soon afterward, terrified that Kitty might continue her bullying now that Ryder had left and knowing that she'd be perfectly capable of calming Ryder down.

Kitty sighed once more as she remembered the way things had gone since. Sure Ryder and Marissa had eventually forgiven her, and she herself had even been one of the two chief bridesmaids at their wedding that had followed five months later; but even now that thirteen years had passed since the incident, the friendship that existed between her and Ryder still was no longer as close as it had used to be. And now that she thought about it, perhaps it was better the way it currently was, for she knew now from looking back on it that in her jealousy, she had crossed a very fine drawn line, and had allowed her emotions to cloud her judgment and sabotage her friendship with Ryder. Now, with Ryder married to Marissa, it would probably still be very awkward and painful for the three of them to meet up together in the same place, which was what now brought her to her current situation with being invited to the reunion that Finn had just invited her to.

She sighed as she remembered her time in the New Directions under the leadership of Finn. She had to admit that the awkward, but lovable alumnus of McKinley High was a very nice person, and that she deserved to repay him for his tolerating her by joining him and his other New Directions friends at the reunion. After all, he must have really considered her as his friend if he'd gone so far as to put in the needed effort to find out what her mail addresses were and send her an invitation.

Still, despite how much she knew it would be the right thing for her to do for Finn by joining him and his friends at the reunion in Lima, she was still very much reluctant to do so. "After all," she said to herself "for all I know, Ryder could be there, and he might even bring Marissa." After all the years she'd spent trying to recover from her damaging incident with Ryder and Marissa 13 years ago, she still didn't feel like she was ready yet to reawaken the pain of what had happened by seeing them again. And Ryder wasn't the only person she was afraid of spending an overly large amount of time with over the coming days.

Kitty sighed as she thought of Marley, Puck, Jake, and Artie. Sure, she and Marley were pretty close friends nowadays, but they still tended to awkwardly dance around and avoid discussing the subject of how unhealthy their relationship had been when they'd first gotten to know each other, and Kitty felt as if she could use just a little more time to fully come to terms with what she'd done before she'd feel comfortable with visiting Marley in person anytime soon. She also remembered how Jake also tended to feel uncomfortable around her as if he were still subconsciously afraid that she might try to sabotage his relationship with Marley and steal him away, and she honestly believed that he didn't deserve to have to feel insecure in his own relationship when it now appeared as if fate had truly destined him and Marley to be together. She also knew that it would be very awkward for her to be in the same area as Puck considering how they'd once dated before Puck had eventually broken up with her soon after his moving into the University of Lima as Finn's roommate without actually being a student there, and she was not willing to face up to the matter again. Finally, she'd seen how wary her boss had been when he'd seen the look on her face as she'd handed him Finn's invitation for him and had danced around the subject of what had been in the letter. With that in mind, she had a feeling that Artie was probably feeling as if he were in need of a break from her and hoped that she might not come to Lima with him.

Eventually, Kitty looked at the letter one more time, sighed, and put it down before heading over to her room to get ready for bed. "Oh well," she said to herself, rubbing her hands through her gilded blonde hair. "I guess I'll have to see if I'm ready for all this when the reunion in New York City takes place."

. . . . .

"Unique" Adams was having the time of her life working at . She smiled as she thought of how popular her work had become despite the fact that she was black, and a transgender at that. Even her boss, her long time high school idol, Kurt Hummel, had to admit that her work was pretty impressive. In fact, despite how he'd never actually said such a thing out loud, she had a feeling that he probably considered her second to no one other than himself. She chuckled as she had the thought, for she was perfectly fine with being in second place against Kurt Hummel.

As she thought about her boss, she sighed in content as she thought of how happy he'd been about his upcoming extended vacation to Lima, Ohio in the coming New Year and the chance to hang out with his many friends from the New Directions glee club alumni that he'd spent the last few months chatting on about. Being a very close business associate of her boss despite her status as an intern, Unique knew how hard her boss continued to work day after day in his job as CEO of ., and she believed that at this point, he'd more than earned the right to have a vacation in his old home with all his friends.

Unique unconsciously pulled her own invitation from Finn out of her handbag and looked over it once again as she took a brief break from her work. She sighed as she thought of how much Finn must have truly considered her a friend of his in order to go so far as to invite her to come join him and the rest of his New Directions friends in Lima for a New Directions reunion that he himself had set up. And she certainly did consider him a good friend. After all, he had been one of the first at McKinley High to consider her female persona as an actual person rather than just a mere performer alter ego of her masculine self, Wade.

As she remembered how considerate Finn had been in allowing her to be cast as Rizzo in the school's production of Grease that year, she smiled as she remembered how much fun it had been to see her best friend Marley performing her heart out on the stage alongside Jake, Ryder, and everyone else in the show.

Her smile faded when she remembered Ryder. Sighing, she placed the invitation back into her handbag and leaned back in her office chair as she remembered how badly things had gone between her and Ryder after he'd found out about her being the one who'd been catfishing him. Ever since Regionals that year, their friendship had never been the same again. Admittedly, with some coaxing from Marley, and surprisingly Kitty, combined with his missing them and his other friends in the New Directions, he had eventually rejoined the team a few weeks later. Unfortunately, in regard to her, Ryder had more or less kept his word. Throughout his time back in the New Directions once more, he had rarely ever said a single word to her regardless of what persona she had taken for each day, and he'd made it very clear how he didn't trust her anymore. And that was really saying something considering how naturally trusting Ryder was. Whenever he'd been around the glee club members, he'd made a point to position himself as far as possible from her; and preferably nearby Marley, Jake, or Kitty.

As if to add insult to injury, while Finn and Mr. Schuester had agreed to try to help her and gotten Ryder to tone down his grudging attitude by a peg or two, even they had agreed that she more or less really had only herself to blame for the way Ryder was treating her. After all, she had been the one who had tried to get him to like her through use of a lie rather than mustering up the courage to do it the honest way. In fact, even after she had finally come clean, all her efforts at building up her disguise and getting Ryder to like her romantically had still proved to be all for nothing when Ryder had almost instantly told her that she and him had nothing between them; and deep down in her heart, she knew that what they'd had between them had truly been nothing but a lie.

Finally, she then remembered how, ironically, the very person that she'd pretended to be while posing as "Katie" had later become Ryder's girlfriend 9 years after the incident and had become his wife exactly five months after their becoming boyfriend and girlfriend. Unique sighed in sadness as the memory of Ryder's marital status resulted in her remembering how in a deliberate payback for what she'd done, Ryder had made a point to not only "neglect" to invite her, but to not even tell her that he was getting married. In fact, Unique had only found out about it when she'd received a call at work from Marley, who had promptly told her how much fun she was having at the reception and that she wished that Unique could have been there, all the while completely in the dark about how her friend had been unaware that Ryder was even getting married in the first place.

Eventually, Unique reopened the document she'd been working on in regard to her current project, desperate to find some way to distract herself from the thought of Ryder and how wonderful his life had turned out to be without her being involved in it. Unfortunately, not even her work could now get thoughts of Ryder out of her head, for the sight of the dresses caused her to subconsciously remember how beautiful Marley and Kitty had looked in the deep purple bridesmaid dresses they'd been wearing in the pictures from the wedding they'd sent her, and how stunningly breathtaking Marissa had looked in her pure silver-white wedding dress to the point that she'd looked like a goddess that far surpassed Unique in beauty.

And the men's clothing did no better, for the sight of them caused her to remember how handsome Ryder had looked in the pitch black velvet suit he'd worn at the wedding and how immeasurably happy he'd looked alongside Marissa in the pictures of them together, which just happened to be the proper description for nearly every single picture from the wedding with Ryder in it. And finally, the memory of Ryder's happy face in those pictures reminded her how much the wide smile and blindingly bright light in his eyes only served to reinforce even more deeply how he would never have looked that happy with her.

Unable to concentrate, Unique reluctantly closed the document for her project once again. "What am I going to do?" she asked herself under her breath. She knew that the right thing to do would be to go to the reunion that Finn had set up and get the whole unpleasant business over with. Still, she was very uncertain as to whether or not she truly felt ready yet to face Ryder after all this time, and especially with Marissa in the area, for she knew that Ryder would almost certainly make sure that Marissa was with him everywhere he went just to discourage any obsessed fan girls, and to likely once again rub in her face how he didn't need her in his life.

Unique was jarred out of that train of thought when she heard her boss's voice outside her office. She looked up from her computer and saw none other than Kurt himself standing outside the door with his back to her whilst on the phone. As Unique watched, she heard her boss say, "I know Isabelle, I'm still not all that uncomfortable with having to face Blaine on the matter of his proposing to me 22 years ago, but now's as good a time as any. Besides, Rachel needs to escape from that psychopath as soon as possible. Don't worry, I've been keeping her safe and sound in my apartment, and I even dropped by her apartment for her to grab all the stuff she needed from there that wasn't already in my apartment. Trust me, we're going to have the time of our lives at this reunion with all our friends, and yes that includes Blaine as well as Finn and all the others. At the very least, all sixteen of us from my senior year will be there according to what Finn told me and Rachel. I have to go; I have to attend a meeting with some of my associates in a few minutes. I'll call you back with more information about my work and the reunion as soon as I get the chance." Upon finishing his conversation, Unique saw Kurt hang up his cell phone and proudly stride down the hallway to where his upcoming meeting was taking place.

As she watched her boss leave the area directly in front of her office, Unique sighed as she realized just what Kurt had told his former boss. Here was her boss, in a most unpalatable situation with his ex-boyfriend, yet willing to go back and face the matter head on alongside all his other friends. She had idolized him and his friend Mercedes since her high school years. Why couldn't she be as brave now as her boss was? "Then again," she thought to herself, even after the proposal incident, her boss and his ex-boyfriend, Blaine, had remained on relatively friendly, albeit icy, terms. Ryder, meanwhile, had constantly been on very vindictive, angry, and distrustful terms with her ever since he'd rejoined the New Directions. Still, her boss had considerable bravery to so boldly face up to a situation very similar to one that she herself couldn't even muster up the courage to want to even talk about with her best friends.

She sighed, for like it or not, she knew that she would never get herself the courage she'd need to face up to Ryder just yet, and would just have to hopefully already have it by the time the New York City phase of the reunion came around. After all, since she lived in New York City, maybe it would be easier for her if she let Ryder and Marissa come to her so that she could finally get her unpleasant memories regarding him out of her system for good and finally allow herself to move on and accept how Ryder's dreams of a happy life had come true without any need of her influence. And deep down, she knew how Ryder truly was a good man who deserved happiness in his life, even if it meant he had to receive it from Marissa, the beautiful, yet honest, young woman who'd now proved without any reasonable doubt that she was truly the love of Ryder's life, and had been right by Ryder's side for the last thirteen years as he had continued to move on miles ahead of Unique.

. . . . .

Ryder sighed as he gazed at the invitation that Finn had sent him in the mail three months ago for the 27th time while sitting at the kitchen table. He knew that Finn was a very good friend of his from his high school years, and that Finn obviously considered him a good friend too considering how he'd put in the effort to find out his mail address and send him an invitation.

Still, he couldn't quite face up the possibility of encountering Unique and Kitty in person. While he still considered Kitty a good friend, their friendship still hadn't quite reached the level that it had been at before her cruelly bullying Marissa to the point that he had angrily stepped between them and given Kitty a severe dressing down for her lack of manners. As for Unique, he knew that even though he had rejoined the New Directions after quitting within a few weeks after Regionals after some careful coaxing from Kitty and Marley combined with how much he'd missed his friends from the New Directions, he had never fully forgiven her for what she'd done to him and had taken every opportunity possible to remind her of how much he no longer trusted her anymore.

Ryder groaned, placed the invitation back into his pocket, and placed his chin on his left hand. He really had no idea now what he was going to do. He knew that in his heart and mind, he wanted more than anything to hang out with Finn and his other friends from the New Directions, but that in the other half of his inner self, he still didn't want to place himself within 50 miles from Unique. What was he going to do?

As he had that thought, he was reminded of how happy his life had become since the catfishing incident when he heard a familiar voice call out from the family room, "Hey Ryder, aren't you going to come over here? Our pizza is getting cold."

Smiling, Ryder turned his head in the direction of the family room and replied, "I'll be there in a second!" Ryder knew how much Marissa enjoyed their sessions of having pizza in front of the television while watching episodes from their collection of _Supernatural_ complete season DVDs. With that in mind, he smiled as he thought of how they had already reached the beginning of the season 5 DVD. He had to admit, he certainly was in a happy state of marriage to Marissa.

Smiling still, Ryder eventually walked into the family room, where he was happy to see Marissa already sitting on the couch in front of the coffee table, which had an open box of pepperoni pizza on top, with the _Supernatural_ season 5 DVD in her hand. Marissa smiled at the sight of her husband entering the family room, for every time she looked at him, she felt as if it were the first time, even though the first time she'd truly looked at him had been during a time in which Ryder had mistaken her for a completely different person. "To think that we'd have reached the stage we've gotten to in our lives together after that incident 22 years ago," Marissa thought to herself as Ryder walked on over to the couch and took a seat on it next to her. Smiling still, she couldn't help but giggle happily as she felt Ryder run his fingers through her silky blonde hair. Ryder smiled at the sound of his wife giggling, for he'd always enjoyed the sound of her laugh.

Eventually, Marissa handed the DVD to Ryder, and Ryder got up to place the first disc of the season into the DVD player. As Ryder walked over to cue up the show for the night, Marissa asked, "So what took you so long tonight dear? You're usually always in here practically at the drop of a hat after the pizza arrives."

Ryder chuckled, and said, "Oh it's nothing. I was just looking at the mail."

Marissa grinned, and responded, "Let me guess, Finn's invitation?"

At the sound of this, Ryder looked back at Marissa, his face clearly showing his surprise. "How did you know about that?"

Marissa grinned sheepishly, and replied, "You once left it on the kitchen table while you were at work last week, and my curiosity got the better of me."

Ryder shook his head side to side. He should have guessed that his wife would find out about this matter sooner or later. Grinning sheepishly, he stated, "I guess I should have known that you would learn about this sooner or later."

"Damn right you should have," Marissa said with a happy smile on her face. "You talk about all your friends among the New Directions alumni all the time."

Ryder chuckled, and said, "Well I have to admit, I have had them all on my mind a lot lately."

"Understatement," Marissa replied with a smile. "So why didn't you tell me about this invitation when you first got it? It's been three months now since you first received it in the mail."

Ryder sighed, looked at Marissa, and responded, "Well, I didn't really want to tell you until I'd made my decision on whether or not I'd go."

"What do you mean made your decision of whether or not you'd go?" Marissa asked. "Don't you want to see them?"

Ryder chuckled, and replied, "Of course I do Marissa. The last time I've seen any of them in the same place as me was at our wedding when Marley and Kitty served as the bridesmaids, Jake was the best man, and Finn and Puck were among the wedding guests. It's also been far longer since I've seen every single one of my New Directions friends together with me in the same place, especially since that time was when I was still in high school."

"Then why don't we go ahead and go? I really liked getting to know the friends of yours that came to our wedding, and I'd really like to hang out with them again and get to know some of your other friends from that club."

"I know that Marissa, and I do want to go to the reunion; but I'm just not sure if I'm ready to face some of my, well, friends that are lower on the list."

At the sound of that, Marissa made a silent "oh" with her mouth, for she had a pretty good feeling who Ryder was referring to.

"Let me guess; you're afraid that Unique and Kitty might be there."

Ryder nodded in the affirmative. "Yes, I am. I know that things are now better between us and Kitty, but I'm still not all that keen on reawakening the memories of that painful incident thirteen years ago from when we were still in the early stages of our relationship. Besides, I still don't know if I'd be able to stand being within fifty miles from Wade after what he did to me in my sophomore year."

Marissa nodded in sympathy after hearing Ryder mention the catfishing incident, for she remembered all to clearly the day that he'd serenaded her in the choir room with Elton John's _Your Song_ while under the false impression that she'd been the girl who'd been in the on-line relationship with him as a girl named Katie and how humiliated and pained he'd looked when he'd discovered the horrifying truth. She had also been one of the first people who hadn't been a member of the New Directions to hear about the news of who the real Katie had turned out to be, and had felt quite horrified and disturbed to discover that it had been the African American transgender boy, Wade "Unique" Adams. After the disgust had toned down a little, she had felt sympathy for Ryder, for having seen how hurt he'd been when he'd learned that she hadn't been the girl who'd been sending him the online messages, she'd had a pretty good feeling how much he must have been seething inside with anger and pain from being played with as the victim of such a cruel travesty, and especially more so after learning the true identity of Katie.

Eventually, Marissa managed to say, "You still haven't forgiven her have you?"

Ryder nodded, and replied, "Indeed I haven't, and I still feel as if I might end up at risk of strangling her if we're in the same area and she's in the form of her male persona."

Marissa nodded her head in understanding, got up from the couch, and gave her husband a hug. "It's ok Ryder, I understand how you feel. I'll tell you what, tomorrow, we'll send Finn a reply to his invite and tell him that we won't be able to make it to Lima for the reunion there, but that maybe we'll be able to make it up for him by joining him and his other friends when they go to New York City."

"Are you sure you want to go to New York City when they go there? I mean, that is where Wade lives. . ."

"Trust me Ryder. I'll help you get yourself ready for when we face Unique. Besides, it probably might be even easier at that point if we have all your other friends combined with those of Finn backing us up."

Upon saying this, Marissa released Ryder from her embrace, looked into his eyes, and continued, "Don't worry about this Ryder. I'll be right by your side through this the entire time, I promise."

Ryder smiled as his wife made these tender promises to him, and he stated, "You know, while I was admittedly asking this to a person pretending to be you the first time I asked you this question, I must ask you again, how is it that you are so beautiful, yet also so smart?"

Marissa grinned, and responded, "I guess it comes with the parentage."

Ryder smiled, for he knew that Marissa, like himself, had at least one parent with a high college degree.

Eventually, Marissa turned her head to look back at the quite forgotten large pepperoni pizza. She then said, "Well, I guess I'd better reheat that pizza in the oven for a little bit so that it will be fit for us to eat by the time you've cued up the show for tonight."

Ryder clasped onto his wife's hand as she was about to leave, and said, "No, I'll take care of the pizza; you can cue it up this time."

Marissa turned her head back to Ryder with a smile on her face, and said in fake annoyance, "Come on Ryder, I can handle a simple reheating of a pizza."

Ryder smiled, and replied back, "I know that, but I'd rather be a gentleman tonight then let you do all the high temperature work."

Marissa laughed, let go of Ryder's hand and said, "Well go on ahead then good sir; I'll get the show ready."

Ryder chuckled, picked up the pizza, and carried it over to the kitchen to get it reheated. Things were definitely going well tonight. "Oh well," he thought to himself. "I'm sure Finn will understand. In the meantime, I'd better make sure that I have the courage to get on the plane to New York City when the time comes for me to join him and his friends there." Even as he had that thought, Ryder smiled as he reached the oven and placed the pizza inside it. "But first," he thought to himself as he set the timer for one minute "There's pizza and _Supernatural_."

**And just like that, all the New Directions members coming to Lima will be exclusively season 3 members. I apologize immediately to all readers who were hoping for all the members from both season 3 and 4 to be in Lima. On the bright side, they will all hopefully be together for the reunion by the time the New York segment of the reunion comes around. :) Please read, review, and enjoy!**

**Coming up next: The day of the reunion has finally come. At long last, Finn and the other New Directions members from season 3 will finally come together in Lima once again for the first time in 22-23 years. How will it all unfold? And how will they all react to their finally being together in the same place once again? Find out on the next update! Happy Christmas Eve! :)**


	22. The Homecoming

**Mele Kele Kimaka! I am so happy that yet another Christmas has occurred. My favorite holiday! And as a special gift for all you gleeks and other readers of fanfiction, here is chapter the first of a special Christmas double update! I hope you enjoy both chapters and also enjoyed this Christmas! :) Please read, enjoy, and review. In this chapter, the day of the reunion has finally come. How will it all turn out? Read on and find out faithful gleeks! :)**

**Just to remind you all, I do not own Glee, nor do I own the song used in this chapter.**

**Chapter 22:**

**The Homecoming**

Finn smiled as he gazed once more at the letters he'd received from Ryder, Jake, Marley, Kitty, and Unique two weeks after the beginning of December in reply to his invitations to them. Sure he would have greatly preferred for them to have been able to join him and his fifteen New Directions friends from his senior year for the reunion in Lima, but he understood how they were either too busy with something else in the case of Marley and Jake, or just not ready to be in the same area as certain people in the case of Kitty, Ryder, and Unique. "At least they had the decency to reply and tell me this," he said to himself as he folded up each of the four replies and placed them back down on the table next to his couch.

With the replies from the last five friends of his to reply now back on the table next to his couch, Finn leaned back on the couch with his hands clasped together behind his head, and sighed as he relaxed on the couch and basked in the warmth of the fire coming from the fireplace. He always loved the feeling of warmth and comfort that came with relaxing in front of the fire on cold winters nights. In fact, this year, it was surprisingly cold this Christmas night.

At the memory of what day it was, Finn smiled as he unconsciously turned his gaze towards his Christmas tree where all the gifts he'd received from his family and friends were still lying around after having been opened. Seconds later, Finn got up from the couch, dressed in the gold star bathrobe that Kurt had made for him last year with his sleepwear underneath, and headed over to where his gifts were lying around under the tree. He'd been about to cue up his DVD player so that he could watch the DVD of the live-action version of _How the Grinch Stole Christmas_ starring Jim Carrey, but right now, he just wanted to gather up his gifts around him so that he could feel as if he had at least tiny parts of his friends gathered around him when he watched it.

The first gifts he picked up and placed on the couch in the area next to where he'd been sitting were the brand new GPS that Burt had given him and the Cleveland Rams baseball cap that his mother had given him. Almost immediately after he placed the cap on the couch next to the GPS, Finn changed his mind, and placed it on his head underneath his Santa hat, smiling happily.

The next gifts he picked up were from April, Luke, Mara, and all his other students as a whole. April had given him a Smith & Wesson revolver for if he ever needed to "defend himself from any future psychopathic gun slingers who came after him" as April had said in her card that had come with it. Luke had given Finn copies of all five Teen Titans complete season DVDs, and Finn was really looking forward to the chance to watch them. Mara had given Finn a _Journey_ t-shirt that had surprisingly been made with his size in mind. Finally, all his other students as a whole had given him a large poster board with all their signatures on it as well as some words of encouragement and praise.

With the gifts from April and his students out of the way, Finn next went through the gifts that had been sent to him by the very friends of his that he had just been reading the messages from a few minutes ago. Marley and Jake had sent him a copy of their latest album, the same one that they were about to go on tour for. Unique had sent him a gold star patterned tie for him to wear for the next time he went to one of Rachel's Broadway performances. Kitty had not only been kind enough to send him a gift in the first place, but had even sent him a vintage _Dashboard Confessional_ album. He smiled when he saw this once again, for she obviously had remembered how he'd once confided to her and the other four new members of the New Directions about how he was a fan of that very band.

Finally, the gift that Ryder and Marissa had sent him was a complete boxed set of the complete season DVDs for all the seasons of _Supernatural_. Finn chuckled as he placed those particular gifts on the couch with his rapidly increasing heap of gifts. He had to admit that he certainly enjoyed watching _Supernatural_ even though one of the minor characters from the second episode of season 1 bore such uncanny resemblance to him in every which way, voice included, that it was almost as if he were watching himself get attacked and eaten by the monster that had eaten the character.

With that particular set of gifts out of the way, Finn turned back towards the tree once more. All that was left under the tree now in the way of gifts, were the presents that had been sent to him by his fifteen friends that had been New Directions members alongside him during his senior year at McKinley High.

The first gift among this collection that he picked up and placed on the couch was from Rory; a copy of Rory's latest album. Puck had given him a pair of swimming trunks that depicted a thunderstorm with lightning bolts raining down from the sky. Blaine had sent him a copy of a DVD recording of his final performance from his _West Side Story_ tour in the UK. Kurt, as the fanatic for fashion he was, had sent him a $100 gift card.

Finn's smile widened as he continued to look through the gifts from the friends that would be coming to Lima for the reunion. Santana had sent him a razor, for "shaving off all his excess wooly mammoth fur so he wouldn't have to risk dying of heatstroke while waiting for it to shed after the winter season was over" as she'd put it. Brittany had sent him a brand new set of tools for repairs and maintenance. Sugar had sent him a massive book of piano sheet music. Artie had sent him a Reels on Wheels complimentary hoodie. Mike had sent him a copy of the DVD for the 2011 version of _Footloose_. Tina, meanwhile, had sent him a copy of the Complete Smithsonian book of Animals.

The next four gifts Finn added to the pile were among the very last remaining gifts under the tree. Mercedes, like Rory and Marley, had sent a copy of her latest album. Sam had sent him a copy of the DVD for the recent live-action _Justice League_ movie starring himself as the Flash. Joe had sent him a pocket Bible. Even Quinn had sent him a gift, which just happened to be the complete set of the _Mortal Instruments_ book series. He smiled when he picked up this gift, for he had never had the chance to read them during his years from before he turned 40 and ended up having to watch the movies first.

The only gifts left under the tree now were the ones from Rachel and Mr. Schuester. Finn smiled as he picked up the two presents. Mr. Schuester had sent him an awesome Country style guitar while Rachel had sent him a copy of the DVD recording of her last performance in _Wicked_ from four months ago. Finn smiled as he gazed at Rachel's gift. Deep inside, he'd felt very bummed about being unable to be in the audience to see her perform in _Wicked_. Now, he'd have the chance to see her perform in that very show whenever he wanted. Smiling still, he placed the last two gifts on the heap of presents that he'd placed on his couch, and then sat back down on the couch himself. He sighed as he thought about how much his friends still cared about him. He especially felt happy now as he thought of how even Rachel had sent him a gift. Oh how he looked forward to seeing her and his other friends when they came to visit him in Lima next year.

As he had that thought, Finn looked over at the pile of presents and decided that perhaps now might be a good time for him to do a little song. Smiling, he picked up the guitar, and tuned it up. Already he knew what song he was going to sing, for the one he'd chosen couldn't have been more appropriate for him considering how Rachel was living in New York. With a happy smile on his face, and with thoughts of Rachel on his mind, he started playing the song on his new guitar, and happily sang:

_Hey there Delilah  
What's it like in New York City?  
I'm a thousand miles away  
But girl, tonight you look so pretty  
Yes you do  
Times Square can't shine as bright as you  
I swear it's true  
Hey there Delilah  
Don't you worry about the distance  
I'm right there if you get lonely  
Give this song another listen  
Close your eyes  
Listen to my voice, it's my disguise  
I'm by your side  
Oh it's what you do to me  
Oh it's what you do to me  
Oh it's what you do to me  
Oh it's what you do to me  
What you do to me  
Hey there Delilah  
I know times are getting hard  
But just believe me, girl  
Someday I'll pay the bills with this guitar  
We'll have it good  
We'll have the life we knew we would  
My word is good  
Hey there Delilah  
I've got so much left to say  
If every simple song I wrote to you  
Would take your breath away  
I'd write it all  
Even more in love with me you'd fall  
We'd have it all  
Oh it's what you do to me  
Oh it's what you do to me  
Oh it's what you do to me  
Oh it's what you do to me  
A thousand miles seems pretty far  
But they've got planes and trains and cars  
I'd walk to you if I had no other way  
Our friends would all make fun of us  
and we'll just laugh along because we know  
That none of them have felt this way  
Delilah I can promise you  
That by the time we get through  
The world will never ever be the same  
And you're to blame  
Hey there Delilah  
You be good and don't you miss me  
Two more years and you'll be done with school  
And I'll be making history like I do  
You'll know it's all because of you  
We can do whatever we want to  
Hey there Delilah here's to you  
This one's for you  
Oh it's what you do to me  
Oh it's what you do to me  
Oh it's what you do to me  
Oh it's what you do to me  
What you do to me._

Upon finishing the last lyric, he sang out the extended "oh" that served as the finishing note while playing the last few musical notes. After finishing his performance, he exhaled in exhaustion. It had been a very long time indeed now since the last time he'd sung. Smiling, he put the guitar back down and prepared to get up from the couch and prepare himself for watching _How the Grinch Stole Christmas_. However, right as we was starting to get up, he abruptly changed his mind. "Screw it," he said to himself, "I can watch the Grinch tomorrow. I have a better idea for what to watch tonight."

The minute Finn finished saying this, he picked up the DVD of Rachel's recorded _Wicked_ performance. If there were ever a time he deserved to watch Rachel perform, it was now. Smiling, he placed the disc into the DVD player, cued up the TV, and when the time was right, he pressed the play button. Oh how he couldn't wait to see Rachel and all his other friends among the New Directions alumni.

. . . . .

Rachel was shaking with anticipation in her seat as the plane continued to descend down towards the runway. She couldn't believe it. The day had finally come for the long awaited reunion that she and Kurt had helped Finn set up to begin. Now on this fine January day in the year 2036, here she was with Kurt on the earliest flight from New York City to Lima, Ohio.

At the thought of seeing Finn, Rachel had to fight to keep the tears of joy from streaming down her face. It had been such a long time since she'd last seen Finn. Now, with her on the verge of seeing Finn in the flesh for the first time in 22 years, she just couldn't wait to reconnect with the love of her life who'd sacrificed so much for her so that she could follow her dreams. She was so tense with excitement that she felt so startled when the plane abruptly reached the ground that she would almost certainly have leaped out of her seat if she hadn't been firmly strapped down to it by her seat belt.

Kurt, who was sitting right next to Rachel, impulsively grabbed onto Rachel's hand to help calm her down. He knew how excited Rachel was to see Finn. Of course, he himself was pretty excited to see Finn as well considering the fact that he was his step brother. Rachel however, was another story. For her, this wasn't a reunion with a much-loved family member. For Rachel, this was a long awaited reunion with her soul mate, an event of epic romantic proportions. In fact, now that Kurt thought about it, he was actually a little jealous about how much Rachel was looking forward to seeing Finn while he was dreading his upcoming encounter with Blaine. "She's so lucky that she doesn't the feel the same way about encountering Finn after all this time as I do about my situation with Blaine," he said to himself in his mind.

Then again, now that he thought about it, Finn hadn't proposed to her right in front of all his friends in the glee club while she was in the midst of a possible relationship with another guy, or in particular, Brody. Besides, the two had always had a more easy going deep friendship between each other even after their break-up 22½ years ago. Still, he understood that Rachel's standing with Finn was much more amicable then his own situation with Blaine, and he begrudged her not of her happiness.

Eventually, the plane came to a complete stop, and the time came for the passengers onboard the plane to disembark. When Rachel and Kurt got up from their seats, it took all of Rachel's will power for her not to bolt down the hall of the airplane and bull her way through all the other departing passengers. Struggling to keep herself under control, she helped Kurt get their carry-on luggage down from the compartment above where they'd been sitting. When they had their carry-on luggage in their hands, they patiently followed along behind the other passengers in front of them through and off the plane and through the tunnel that led from the plane to the terminal.

When Kurt and Rachel finally exited into the terminal and moved to their left and out of the line of passengers, Rachel squealed in excitement. Kurt had to place his hand on her left shoulder to stop her hopping up and down. "Calm down Rachel!" he shouted in what sounded like a mix between exasperation and delight.

Rachel squealed back, "I can't help it Kurt. We're here! We're home!"

"I thought you said that this place didn't feel like home anymore!"

"That was twenty two and a half years ago! Besides, I didn't even realize how much I've missed the familiar sights of this airport until now!"

"Well please calm down Rachel! I need you to be in a perfectly civilized condition for when we meet up with Finn."

Taking deep breaths to calm herself down, Rachel eventually managed to sufficiently calm down in order to say, "Alright, ok, let's go find Finn."

After saying this, Rachel began to gaze around the terminal to see if she could find any sign of Finn. Kurt started doing the same seconds later. However, despite all their searching and double checking, neither of the two friends could find any sign of Finn being there.

"Where is he?" Rachel asked desperately, her voice starting to rise with nervousness at the thought of all the possible negative reasons for why he wasn't already sitting right there in the terminal waiting for them.

"Easy now Rachel," Kurt said patiently. "He's probably already at the airport on his way to the terminal right now."

Rachel dug her phone out of her handbag, turned it on, and hurriedly began to dial Finn's number without even bothering to automatically access it from her contact list.

"Rachel, what are you doing?" Kurt asked.

"I'm going to call Finn right now and make sure he's ok."

"Rachel, you are overreacting. Finn's perfectly fine!"

"Kurt please bear with me now! I trust you perfectly, but I just need to hear his voice just so I can be positive that he's not dead!"

Kurt placed his carry-on luggage down on the floor, raised his hands up in a gesture of surrender, and replied, "Whatever you say, whatever you say."

Eventually, Rachel finally managed to dial in the correct number, and she placed the phone up to her ear so fast that it was almost as if her ear were a magnet and the phone were a nail. "Please pick up, please pick up, please pick up," Rachel begged to herself as she heard the low droning beep start to play.

. . . . .

Finn Hudson couldn't have been happier as he got out of his car and made his way into the airport with his cell phone and wallet in the pockets of his Reels on Wheels hoodie, his Cleveland Rams cap on his head, his Journey t-shirt on underneath the hoodie from above his jeans, and the massive white cat plush toy he'd brought for Rachel as a welcome home gift slung up under his left arm.

"Boy I must look like such an idiot right now," he thought to himself as he walked through the airport down the path following the signs that led to the terminal for the earliest flight from New York City to Lima with the gigantic stuffed cat slung under his arm, the insanely happy grin on his face, and the even more insanely happy bright light shining in his dark brown eyes.

He couldn't believe it. After six months and three weeks of waiting, the long awaited day for the Lima New Directions Reunion to begin had arrived. Even now, Finn was feeling so excited about how he was about to finally reunite with all fifteen of his fellow New Directions members from his senior year, especially Rachel, that he felt as if an earthquake were taking place inside him. "To think that I would have lived to see this day," Finn thought to himself as he rode up an escalator leading to the second floor, where he knew that the terminal would be located. It took all his willpower to not go barreling down the hallway upon reaching the top of the escalator and stepping off of it onto the second floor.

In the long run, all that willpower ended up worth spending to prevent himself from running. After all, if he'd started running, he was almost positive that he wouldn't have been able to stop himself in order to answer his cell phone when it started ringing right as he was about to step onto a moving sidewalk in a hallway about halfway between the escalator and the terminal without having to fall down flat on his face and risk missing the call. And when he saw who was calling, he felt very glad indeed that he wasn't going to miss this call, for it was from none other than Rachel.

Smiling giddily like an idiot, Finn selected the accept option, placed the phone up to his ear and stepped onto the moving sidewalk. "Finn Hudson speaking, who is this?" Finn asked excitedly.

. . . . .

The low droning beeping sound went off three times. Each time, the noise lasted for at least two or three seconds. However, for Rachel, each beep seemed to go on for two or three hours. Almost instantly after the third beep finished, she heard a familiar voice that was most certainly not a voice mail recording say, "Finn Hudson speaking, who is this?"

Fighting with all her might not to shriek with joy, Rachel replied, "Finn? Is that you?" scarcely daring to believe that it was truly him.

Her last doubts as to the identity of who was now talking to her on the phone were dispelled when she heard the voice on the phone reply, "Welcome home Rachel."

Squealing in joy, Rachel responded, "Oh Finn, it's so good to hear your voice again!"

"You took the words right out of my mouth babe," Finn replied, his happiness at hearing her own voice crystal clear to her.

Rachel giggled, rubbed her fingers through her dark brown hair, and said, "Thank you Finn. Oh can you believe this? Today, after all this time, I'm standing right here in Lima once again, on the verge of a reunion with you and all our other friends from the glee club during our senior year!"

"I know exactly how you feel Rach. A few times over the last few months, I feared that I might not actually live to see this day!"

"That's exactly how I felt!" Rachel shouted excitedly in reply.

"I just said that!" Finn yelled in giddy excitement and mock annoyance.

Rachel giggled, and said, "I know that Finn; I'm just so excited!"

"I'll bet you are," Finn replied.

"Indeed," Rachel replied. "Ok Finn, I really want to talk to you some more; but right now, I am going to have to give the phone to Kurt for a little bit. He'll be very angry if he doesn't get the chance to join in the fun!"

"You go ahead," Finn replied.

Smiling, Rachel handed her phone over to Kurt, who gingerly accepted the phone.

"Hello," Kurt said the instant the phone was up to his ear.

"Welcome home little brother," Finn replied.

Kurt chuckled at the sound of his step brother's voice. "Isn't this exciting!? All these years, and I never thought that you would have had this in you!"

"I don't know if I should be flattered or insulted by that."

Kurt giggled, and responded, "Don't you worry a hair on your head Captain Sensitive. That was, by the tightest definition, a compliment."

"Well in that case, thank you."

"You are most welcome big bro," Kurt responded. "I can't wait to see you and all our other friends from the New Directions during our senior year at McKinley!"

"Me neither . . . wait a minute, are you sure you really mean **all** of those said friends?"

Kurt sighed, and responded, "Finn, do not make me start to dread this upcoming encounter with Blaine any more than I already am. Yes a part of me is looking forward to seeing him since after his proposal and our graduations from NYADA, but another equally large part is dreading this coming reunion with him and the inevitable closure I'm going to have to give him in regard to his proposal."

"Well I wish you the best of luck fashion wizard."

"Thank you Finn," Kurt replied before taking a look at Rachel, seeing how she was shaking rigorously as she fought with all her will power to keep herself from pouncing on Kurt and swiping the phone from his hand, and immediately saying to Finn, "Ok, I am going to hand you back over to Rachel right now. I know that I probably could say a little more to you right now, but for the moment I really need to go ahead and give you back to Rachel or else risk getting my throat slit."

"Kurt, don't be so melodramatic."

"I'm serious Finn! Rachel's freshly manicured nails are lethal weapons worthy of the demon hordes of Satan! And I don't even believe in Satan!"

Finn laughed, and replied, "Ok then, go ahead then. I'd certainly prefer it that you not find out whether or not the opposite of your beliefs are true the hard way!"

"I don't make fun of you for your beliefs Finn!" Kurt shouted in mock anger before rapidly extending the phone to Rachel so fast that it seemed to Rachel as if the phone abruptly zoomed to a stop directly in front of her face.

Within seconds, Rachel had recovered from her startled feeling of seeing her cell phone abruptly come to a jarring halt mere inches from her face, and swiped it from Kurt's hand and slapped it back up to her own ear.

"Here I am again!" Rachel yelled happily into the phone.

"So I hear!" Finn replied enthusiastically.

"Where are you Finn?" Rachel asked. "I was really expecting you to be sitting right here in the terminal in the seat directly in front of the entrance to the tunnel leading to the plane!"

"Don't you worry Rachel," Finn replied. "I'm at the airport. In fact, as of exactly thirty seconds ago, I am now much closer to you than you think."

"What do you mean?" Rachel asked in confusion.

"Turn around; or more specifically, look to your left three meters or so down the hall from the terminal your flight is attached to."

Desperate to find out what Finn had meant by what he'd said, Rachel obediently turned her head to look in the direction and location Finn had indicated without hesitation. Kurt, momentarily jarred by Rachel's abrupt turning of her head, eventually managed to look in the same direction that Rachel was looking in.

Upon sight of what was standing right at the location that Finn had told her to look at, Rachel's eyes opened wide and she squealed in delight. Standing right there in the middle of the hallway exactly three meters to her left from the terminal she and Kurt were in, dressed in dark blue jeans and a dark green hoody with the logo and name for Artie's Reels on Wheels studio on it, a Cleveland Rams baseball cap on his head, a ridiculously happy look on his handsome face, his left arm wrapped tightly around an enormous stuffed white cat that was the same size as himself, and his cell phone in his right hand and up to his right ear, was the love of her life, Finn Hudson himself.

Ecstatic with joy, Rachel hung up her phone, and threw her civilized patient demeanor to the winds as she bolted out of the terminal and down the hallway straight towards Finn. Kurt, mortified by what Rachel had just done, ran after her, all the carry-on luggage of him and Rachel combined in his hands and swinging around as he desperately begged for her to wait up and tried futilely to keep up with her.

. . . . .

Finn's already massive smile grew immense as he saw the overjoyed, dark haired, and dark eyed beauty that he knew oh so well barreling down the airport hall towards him as if she'd been fired out of a cannon. Finn just had time to close his cell phone, slip it back into his hoodie pocket, and extend his arms and the massive stuffed toy cat to his sides as far as he could before Rachel plowed into him and squeezed him tightly with a joyous embrace.

As Finn felt Rachel's arms coil around his body like a python, Finn laughed in excitement at being greeted so enthusiastically, joy at seeing Rachel again after so many years ago, and relief at feeling Rachel touching him and therefore proving to him that this wasn't all just a dream. Admittedly, he was having slight trouble to catch full breaths due to how tight Rachel was hugging combined with how he was pressed tightly up against the massive stuffed cat. However, since he was now with Rachel, he didn't care if he never was capable of taking an entire lung-full of air ever again, and he eventually returned the gesture as best as he could despite how the toy cat slightly impeded the movement of his left arm into the necessary position from which he could use it as part of his hug for Rachel. As the two good friends hugged each other, they both chuckled gleefully at seeing each other again after having spent 22 years apart, and letting their built up supplies of tears of joy pour unimpeded down their faces. In the midst of this, Kurt finally caught up to Rachel, and could only stand staring warmly at the romantic scene unfolding in front of him, a warm smile on his face. "It's almost as if they'd never broken up or said goodbye in the first place," he thought to himself.

Eventually, Finn reached the point where he had no choice but to say, "Hey Rachel, I know that you're really overjoyed to see me and all, but could you please loosen up a little? I'm having a little trouble breathing here."

Rachel giggled, undid her embrace, and stood at arm's length from Finn with her hands still on Finn's sides. Smiling Rachel said, "It's so good to see you again Finn!"

"I can tell," Finn replied, heaving reflexively as he tried his best to refill his lungs.

Rachel smiled, pointed at the Finn-sized stuffed toy cat that was now sitting down on the floor right next to her boyfriend after it had been smoothed out of the grasp of his arm when Rachel had hugged him combined with her letting go, and asked, "Is that for me?"

"Well last time I checked, you're the one named Rachel Berry," Finn replied with his endearing ever present half grin on his face.

Rachel playfully slapped Finn on the shoulder and stated, "Aw you shouldn't have!"

Finn chuckled, and said, "I see history has repeated itself down to the dialogue."

Rachel chuckled as Finn's comment caused her to unconsciously remember how he'd given her a black teddy bear that was the exact same size as this stuffed white cat as a congratulatory gift for her when he'd been there in the audience at her _Funny Girl_ performance. She smiled even wider as she remembered how that very teddy bear was still safe and sound in Kurt's apartment where she'd left it ever since she'd brought it over there from her own apartment on the very first night she'd fled there to escape from Brody for the first time.

Smiling still, Rachel picked up the large cat, held it closely to her body, and sniffed at the soft plush and cotton that made up the massive toy. "Ah," she said in delight. "This even smells just like that teddy bear! Where'd you even get it? I know for a fact that neither the store you bought that teddy bear twenty two years ago, nor any other store that sells anything like that bear or this kitty cat are in or anywhere near Lima!"

Finn smiled, happy to have impressed Rachel once again with his heartfelt gift, and replied truthfully, "Bought it on EBay. You deserve only the best from the love of your life."

Rachel giggled, gently placed the stuffed cat on the floor right next to her, and gave Finn a gentler hug. As this happened, Finn smiled as he got a good look at her outfit and realized that she was wearing a larger size edition of the same dress she'd worn when they'd gone on that date in New York City when they'd been there for Nationals during their junior year. He smiled at the memory, for now he felt as if their relationship had never ended at all.

Eventually, Kurt decided that the romantic reunion scene had played out long enough, and he clapped his hands before stating, "Well then, hip, hip, hooray that you've reunited once again! Now, let us mosey on to the terminal where we can expect our next arrival for the reunion! You do actually know which terminal that would be right Finn? I hope you do because Rachel and I don't."

Finn chuckled, allowed Rachel to end her second embrace, and replied, "Don't worry, Sam texted me before he boarded that he, Mercedes, and Artie would be meeting us right here in this area of the airport at around 10:30, which is actually fifteen minutes from now. Let's have a seat and wait for them!"

As Finn turned around to start heading towards the terminal at the end of the hall where Sam had told him to wait for him and his entourage, Kurt stated, "Finn! That's the terminal for the flight from Lima to Columbus!"

"Don't worry Kurt! The others and I all agreed to meet up together at that terminal! Come on! I want us all to be sitting there waiting when they arrive!"

Rachel instantly picked up her handbag, carry-on suitcase, and the stuffed cat, and joined Finn at the massive row of seats that was at the terminal that had been agreed upon as a gathering ground for the New Directions members attending the Lima reunion. Kurt sighed, and made his way over to where Finn and Rachel were now sitting with his own carry-on suitcases swinging around in his hands and his briefcase dangling from his left shoulder. Even as he took a seat and listened to Rachel and Finn talking up a storm about how much they were looking forward to saying hello to all their friends, Kurt stared up resolutely at the ceiling, praying that he could somehow avoid confronting Blaine for just one more day.

. . . . .

Artie Abrams smiled underneath the cowl of his dark gray hoodie, his blue eyes dazzling with excitement underneath the large black sun glasses that he was wearing as he confidently wheeled his way down the hallway leading towards the area that had been arranged to be the designated meeting ground for them to gather around together and officially begin the reunion. At that moment, he didn't care how uncomfortable it felt to have his heavy carry-on suitcase on his lap as he wheeled his way down the path that he knew was going to lead straight to where Finn was almost certainly already waiting. Close behind him, also wearing hoodies and dark sunglasses, their carry-on luggage in their hands, and equally excited to see Finn and anyone else who might have already arrived before them, were Sam and Mercedes.

As Sam and Mercedes followed close behind Artie, they couldn't help but smile joyfully as they eagerly anticipated the moment where they finally saw Finn once again after so many years. As they walked, Sam leaned his head towards Mercedes and whispered in her ear, "We made it."

Mercedes grinned, and whispered back, "That we did dear."

Sam chuckled, and responded, "I can't believe we're actually here in Lima again after all this time. Finn is going to be so proud of us for coming."

Mercedes chuckled, and said, "That he is. Come on now, we don't want to keep him waiting while we try to keep up with Mr. Dalek over there."

"I heard that!" Artie yelled without even turning his head to look behind him.

Sam and Mercedes chuckled at the sound of Artie's indignant retort. Things certainly hadn't changed.

After what seemed like an eternity, the three friends who'd come all the way to Lima from L.A. by way of the same private jet saw the very person who'd invited them over to Lima sitting patiently at a seat in the terminal that was obviously the designated meeting ground. Their smiles widened when they saw that Rachel and Kurt were already there waiting alongside him. "Of course they arrived before us," Mercedes thought with a chuckle. She knew how strongly and deeply the bond between Rachel and Finn went and how it would be so much in Rachel's character for her to hop on the earliest flight from New York City to Lima, Ohio to see Finn.

Sam, meanwhile, was having similar thoughts. "Dang, if those two could see the sexual tension between them . . ., they're so practically married already."

Eventually, Artie threw all discretion to the wind and hollered out, "Yo! Wassup ya'll!"

At the sound of those words, Finn, Rachel, and Kurt turned their heads in the direction they had come from and smiled widely at the sight of the three close friends of theirs that they'd been awaiting. Right as Finn, Rachel, and Kurt stood up from their seats, the three new arrivals from L.A. rushed over to join their friends.

Within seconds, Finn and Rachel were engaged in welcoming hugs with Sam and Mercedes respectfully while Kurt and Artie playfully greeted each other with a series of high fives and excited whoops of pleasure.

Finn grinned happily at Sam and said in greeting, "It's so good to see you again Mr. Hollywood! How's the movie star life treating you?"

Sam chuckled, and responded, "Now don't you throw out all that Mr. Hollywood crap on me! I'm still the same Sam Evans!"

"True, but with power, worldwide fame as a movie star, and now no longer homeless!"

The two guys laughed happily and fist bumped in a gesture of companionship.

Mercedes and Rachel chuckled at the sight of Sam and Finn. Rachel then said, "Boys, always so crazy and friend-mentality based around others of their kind. Boy it's so good to see you, Sam, and Artie here with us Mercedes."

"Damn right it is," Mercedes replied. "Girl! You look like you just departed from the red carpet awards ceremony for !"

"Don't you give her all the credit Mercedes! I'm the one who works with the company that designed that outfit!"

"Good to see you to Kurt," Mercedes said with a smile on her face as she gazed at her longtime gay best friend.

Kurt smiled, happy to see his good friend Mercedes again after such a long time. "It's a real pity that I will sooner or later have to see _him_ again after all this time too," he thought to himself grimly as he remembered his upcoming encounter with Blaine.

Meanwhile, Artie wheeled his way between Finn and Rachel and bellowed, "Yo! My friends! Wassup!?"

Finn and Rachel took one look at their bespectacled wheelchair bound friend, smiled warmly, and replied at the same time, "Our heads."

Artie playfully smacked Finn on the knee and replied, "Now don't you be pulling out dwarf jokes on me! I'll have you know that if I weren't in a wheelchair, I'd be exactly your height yo!"

"Oh really? My height?" Finn asked with joking disbelief.

Artie rolled his eyes behind his shades, and responded, "Well ok, maybe not your height Finn, but at the very least likely Brittany's height considering I was about the same height as her when I used that re-walker during my sophomore year!"

The six friends all laughed at the memory. Admittedly, though the re-walker had broken the very next day, they were comforted in how Artie had gotten to walk like a human one last time just for Brittany, who had at the time been his girlfriend.

Mercedes then stated, "Man when's everyone else gonna get here? This outfit of mine needs a bigger audience then this!"

"I'm sure that you wouldn't mind if the expected audience today is one particular person short," Kurt said nervously.

"Actually Mercedes, between the two of us, I'd say that my outfit is the one that's actually deserving of an audience in the first place," Rachel said with a mischievous smile on her face.

"Oh Hell to the no! There's only one diva in this airport whose outfit is deserving of R-E-S-P-E-C-T, and that's me!" Mercedes shouted back in mock anger.

The six friends promptly started laughing at the sound of this.

Eventually, Sam put his hand on Mercedes's shoulder and said, "Calm down honey, I'd rather we not all be seen fighting each other when the rest of our friends arrive."

"Sam's right guys," Finn said as he looked up from his phone, which he had dug out after feeling it vibrate in the midst of the laugh-fest that had just gone on. Grinning, he said, "After all, Quinn and Joe are due to walk right out of that terminal directly in front of us any minute now, and I'd rather we not get arrested for assault in front of them."

All six friends started laughing even harder when they heard Finn say this. Already they had a feeling that they'd be quite a sight for Quinn and Joe to see.

. . . . .

Quinn stood patiently in the center of the aisle of the plane with her handbag slung over her shoulder and her carry-on luggage in her hands as she waited for the passengers in front of her to move forward so that she herself could more forward and get off the plane. Despite how good of a job she was pretty sure she was doing at keeping a calm and collected look on her face, she was seething with excitement and hope on the inside. It had been a very long time indeed since the last time she'd visited Lima, and that particular time had involved a very questionable incident regarding her sexual orientation that she most certainly wasn't proud of. Still, she was eager to see Finn and whatever other friends of hers from the glee club during her senior year that had already arrived before her. Taking deep breaths to try to prevent herself from cracking under the tension of the moment, she slowly managed to calm down by a few pegs or so.

Unfortunately, Quinn soon found herself not in any calmer a mood when she abruptly felt an unexpected weight crashing into her from behind. Yelping, she crashed into the person in front of her, who was sent stumbling forward, thus resulting in Quinn herself falling down on her belly. The source of the heavy impact that she'd felt from behind her also landed right on top of her.

Seconds later, the heavy weight pressing down on her legs and lower back left, and she turned her head around in time to see a man crouched down on his knees with his hand extended out to help her up. "Sorry mam, some crazy-head behind me bumped into me and pushed me right into you. . .," before abruptly stuttering as his eyes took on a look that conveyed a sudden recognition of who he was looking at.

For a moment, Quinn was confused as she saw the surprised gaping look on the face of the man standing right by her and heard him awkwardly blubbering as he tried to figure out what he was trying to say for some odd reason. Suddenly, she noticed the slightly tanned skin, golden hazel eyes, and most importantly, how the man's hair was elaborately styled with dread locks.

Upon seeing these details about the man and realizing who it was, her eyes widened in surprise, and her mouth dropped open. "Joe?!" she yelled incredulously.

"Quinn?!" Joe yelled back with the surprise and disbelief clear in his voice. Of all the people he'd expected to be knocked into on this plane, he had most certainly not expected her to be that person.

Eventually, Joe remembered the current situation he was in, and extended his hand further towards Quinn. Unfortunately, he was knocked off balance and his hands hit the floor palm first as he was nudged in the back with a large carry-on suitcase that was in the left hand of the man who'd bumped into him from behind in the first place. The man impatiently yelled, "Will you hurry up!? I don't have all day!"

Exhaling rapidly in anger, Joe stood up, turned to face the man, and placed the tip of his middle finger to the offender's throat before shouting, "Watch it Bossy Pants! A proper gentleman doesn't trample a woman underfoot! Or perhaps you didn't notice how you pushed me right into one and knocked her down!"

The offending passenger, stunned by the angry come back, spluttered and attempted to smooth talk his way out by saying, "I didn't realize that there was a woman in front of you. . ."

"Well you obviously don't have very good eye sight then! I mean come on, she was in perfectly clear sight range of you from the way I was positioned before you jabbed me in the back with that god-forsaken suitcase, and even after that I might add!"

"Ok, ok, I'm sorry, it was all an honest mistake!"

"And stop lying! Do you not realize that you are violating one of the Ten Commandments by continuing to spout out all this crap?! And don't even think about trying to submit me to any more physical harm! Since you are obviously extremely stupid since you haven't already recognized me, I'll have you know that I'm one of Ohio's top lawyers, and so is that woman you were so willing to have me trample to death I might add!"

The instant the offending passenger heard those particular words, he gaped in horror at the furious passenger he'd been pushing at that had sat next to him during the flight as he finally realized the significance of the man's dread locks and mentioning of the Ten Commandments and remembered where he'd seen this man before, as well as why the attractive blonde woman who now had that strangely familiar hard-eyed and determined look in her eyes that he'd seen in a picture of her on the cover of a Time Magazine also looked so familiar for that matter.

Gulping in horror, he managed to fearfully state, "You're Joe Hart."

"That's right you devil's-dung-for-brains baby man! And that woman you were so keen on having me murder just now is Quinn Fabray! Now back off and be patient, or God help me I will have you in jail with a searing-hot law suit up your ass and the death of an innocent woman on your conscience before you can blink! You understand me!?"

Terrified, the man fearfully replied, "Yes sir, I'm sorry," as he backed up against the passengers behind him as best as he could while the passengers behind him themselves also did their best to move back to give the two famous lawyers room to get up and on their way.

As this was happening, the man who'd been sitting behind Quinn and right next to the offending passenger punched his compatriot on the back of the head and hissed, "Nice going Jack-Ass." His companion gulped, and hung his head in shame.

A few minutes later, Quinn and Joe had successfully helped each other up, gathered up their carry-on luggage, and started down the aisle they were in to catch up with the other passengers who had already continued on ahead of them. Behind them, the passengers who had backed away to make room for them made sure to wait until the two lawyers had already reached the exit hatchway of the plane before they all finally deemed it safe to start moving again towards the exit themselves.

As Quinn and Joe made their way through the tunnel that connected the plane with the terminal for the Cincinnati-Lima flight, both of them calmly took deep breaths as they tried to calm down before taking the time to exchange any casual words in passing. Eventually, Quinn deemed herself sufficiently calmed down enough for her to talk, and she said to Joe, "Thanks Joe, I owe you one."

Joe, who had now deemed himself to have sufficiently cooled down from his rage, smiled, and replied, "You're welcome Quinn. I can tell you right now that I would never have forgiven myself if that chowder head had caused me to accidentally kill you."

Quinn smiled, and responded, "It's ok Joe. It wouldn't have been your fault. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if God's already deducting points from that man and sending a memo to Satan telling him to consider having that man dragged literally kicking and screaming down to Hell by his strongest demons."

Joe laughed, and replied, "That would be funny."

Seconds later, the two lawyers exited the tunnel, side by side, smiling as they caught sight of six of their friends that had been New Directions members alongside them gathered around in the terminal directly in front of the one for the flight they'd just disembarked from laughing uncontrollably like a bunch of dorks.

At that moment, a tall muscular dark haired man that was obviously Finn just happened to turn his head in the direction where they were coming from, and his eyes opened wide at the sight of them. He instantly tapped a dark-haired beauty that was obviously Rachel on the shoulder, and indicated for her and the others to look in the direction he'd seen them coming and happily yelled, "Speak of the devil, there they are!"

At the sound of those words, Rachel and the other four New Directions members that had been gathered around Finn rushed up to greet the two lawyers, who smiled widely, and waved at them before eagerly accepting the embraces they were given by their enthusiastic friends seconds later in greeting.

When Sam's turn to greet Joe came, he gave the dreadlocked man a hearty slap on the back and exclaimed, "Nice to see you again Tarantula Head!"

Joe grinned, and replied, "Likewise Blonde Chameleon, and need I remind you once again that FYI, my head does not resemble Chewbacca's backside?"

Sam chuckled, playfully slapped Joe on the shoulder, and responded, "Come on dude, that was just a joke, and I told you right after I said that that year that I didn't mean any offense."

Joe chuckled, and stated, "Whatever dude. God obviously intended for us to remain friends this many years after the incident since we're all now here together once again."

"You've got that right Joe," Finn said as he himself gave Joe a hearty slap on the back, which resulted in Joe grinning and playfully slapping Finn on the chest.

Meanwhile, Quinn was stuck in a twin embrace from Mercedes and Rachel. Laughing in pleasure at being with some of her closest friends, Quinn eventually said, "Easy now girls. Please let me go so I can get a good look at how life's been treating you."

Mercedes and Rachel laughed at that comment as they let go of Quinn and positioned themselves directly in front of the gorgeous, but serious, blonde that they considered such a close friend. Quinn smiled, and stated, "Well I certainly can say that it feels pretty nice to be here in Lima considering what happened to me the last time I was here."

Rachel and Mercedes winced as they remembered what Quinn and Santana had told them about the incident that Quinn was now referring to, and Rachel tapped Quinn lightly on the shoulder in sympathy.

Seconds later, the eight friends all gathered together with smiles on their faces, basking in the joy of being together again after such a long time. Finn then said, "Man it's so great for us all to be here in the same place again like we used to! We're now halfway fully reunited again!"

"Make that 5/8 of the way to being fully reunited again," said a familiar voice coming from directly behind Finn and Rachel.

The eight friends all gazed in the direction the voice had come from, and whooped in joy at the sight of none other than Mike and Tina walking down the hall with smiles on their faces and their carry-on luggage in their hands.

. . . . .

Tina and Mike smiled as they walked down the remaining feet of the hallway leading from the terminal for their connection flight from Indianapolis to Lima that remained between them and the eight friends from the New Directions who'd served as members in the 2011-2012 school year at McKinley High that were already there at the airport waiting for them and ready to get the reunion officially started up.

Tina was especially happy to see that Artie was among the members who'd already arrived before Mike and herself. After all, despite how their romantic ship had sailed far beyond the horizon years ago, she'd always remember how they still considered each other their first truly romantic love interests before their break-up over the summer after their freshman year in which she'd left him for Mike.

Of course, Tina was also just as happy to see the other seven friends who were there smiling and whooping in pleasure at the sight of her and Mike, including Rachel and Finn. As she had that thought, Tina sighed in content at how she was finally about to reconnect with many of her oldest friends besides Mike that she hadn't seen in person for many years, and also in regret as she remembered how bitter and jealous she'd been of Rachel in the last few days leading up to Nationals in the season of her junior year and how vocal she'd been in her opposition of Mr. Schuester's choosing Finn to be the New Directions club director while the former left to Washington D.C. to combat the massive deduction in government funding for show choir groups early on in her senior year.

Even as she remembered those unpleasant experiences regarding her old friends from the New Directions, Tina shuddered as she then remembered how insensitive she'd been to Kurt when she'd seen him in the choir room with Mike and Mercedes during the Stevie Wonder week before her insensitivity had been nipped right in the bud when Kurt had indignantly reminded her how he'd been there at the time to check up on his father, who had been afflicted with prostate cancer back then.

Fortunately, when Tina lifted her head back up after hanging hung it down in regret of those depressing incidents and saw the wide smiles on the faces of those three particular friends as well as the other five that she hadn't any negative experiences with, her guilt left her as she instinctively smiled back once again. Before long, she and Mike reached the area where their eight friends were waiting, and were enthusiastically greeted and welcomed back to Lima.

"Well if it isn't our favorite New Directions alumni dance tutor!" Finn shouted happily as he gave Mike a hearty slap on the back in greeting. Mike chuckled and returned the gesture before proceeding to give Sam a fist bump and shake hands with Joe immediately after that.

Meanwhile, Tina was receiving an equally warm welcome from some of the other female alumni of the glee club.

"Well look at you girl!" Mercedes shouted as she gave the slightly built Asian American girl a hearty embrace that caused the latter to laugh happily in response. Upon letting go of Tina, Mercedes smiled back and continued, "Who would've thought that the winner of the diva competition that Finn and Mrs. Pillsbury held while Mr. Schuester was in D.C. would end up as a professional L.A. veterinarian married to the city of talent's most talented dancer!?"

Tina giggled, and responded, "I have to admit that if I'd been told that my future would be that way the way I was during my senior year at McKinley, I'd have laughed in their face!"

This comment caused Mercedes and Tina to start laughing.

Rachel took this opportunity to step over to join her two fellow girl divas and say to Tina, "I can definitely agree. From the way you were always begging and demanding for solos in the glee club since not to long before Nationals in my senior year, I'd have thought that you'd drop out of that veterinary school and apply for NYADA."

Tina grinned at the girl who she'd once considered one of her biggest rivals in regards to receiving solos in the glee club, and replied, "That was just a phase Rachel. Besides, my life with Mike and Karen provides me with all the music I need whenever I'm not hanging around with you guys."

"That's certainly nice to know," Quinn said in approval. "I always had a feeling that you and Mike would get back together eventually, even in the midst of your obviously head injury induced infatuation with Blaine."

Tina rolled her eyes and responded, "Thank you for your faith in that matter," in mock sarcasm.

"Well I'll certainly bet that you're looking forward to seeing Blaine today a lot more so than I am," Kurt responded with a definitely real sarcastic tone to his voice.

Tina looked at Kurt, shook her head side to side with a smile still on her face and stated, "Don't you worry about that Kurt. I'm already too deeply and very much in love with Mike these days to go throwing myself at or rubbing vapor rub on Blaine Warbler any time soon."

"Whatever girl," Kurt stated bluntly with a roll of his eyes before turning away to stare at the hearty scene that was still unfolding between Mike and the other guys. As Tina watched Kurt do this, she sighed sympathetically as she thought of how much Kurt had to be dreading, yet also slightly looking forward to, his upcoming reunion with Blaine 22 years after Blaine's unexpected popping of the question to him directly after Regionals in front of everyone else who'd gathered in the choir room that night for the private, and this time successful, wedding between Mr. Schuester and Mrs. Pillsbury.

At that moment, before Tina could think any further on that particular matter, Finn and the other guys joined back up with Kurt and the girls. Finn, smiling happily from how well things were going so far, proceeded to state to them, "Alright everyone, from what I've seen on the flight information displays, the flights that are being used by Brittany, Santana, Blaine, and Puck won't be arriving until 1:00, which is exactly two hours from now. Also, Rory told me while I was on my way to the airport that he should be arriving in his private jet at around that time as well; and of course Sugar also told me that she should be also be arriving here at that time to meet up with us. With that in mind, I say we should all go ahead and have lunch, and then come back here and sit around together so that we can chat and continue to reconnect. Sound good?"

"Damn sure it does!" Artie yelled heartily. "You're the one who helped arrange this reunion, so you're the boss in this equation!"

"Understatement," Joe stated. "He's the Almighty Treble Clef, Uniter of Glee Clubs, remember? And he certainly did his super hero alter ego's job tremendously well today by reuniting the very club that he served for as both a student and as a teacher!"

The other gleeks were quick and happy to agree with Joe, and they all soon started walking back down the path that Tina, Mike, Mercedes, Sam, Artie, and Finn had taken to enter the area and made their way to find the nearest restaurant. After all, not a single one of them was in any mood whatsoever to have to meet up with the remaining six New Directions members who'd be joining them for the Lima reunion on an empty stomach.

**And there's the first chapter of this Christmas double update! I hope you enjoy it and also the second chapter in this excellent Christmas occasion! :) Just so you know, in case any of you were wondering, that Supernatural thing I mentioned about a character looking a lot like Finn is indeed a nod to how Cory Monteith (RIP :'() once played a minor role in Season 1, Episode 2: Wendigo. To fully get an idea of how gruesome his Supernatural character's fate was, you can either watch the full episode on DVD or netflix, or just watch the Youtube video, Finn from Glee Dies on Supernatural. Anyway, I hope you continue to enjoy this story! Please read, enjoy, and review! :)**

**Coming up next: The remaining six members of the New Directions from season 3 finally make it to Lima, and it isn't long before a full out drama war breaks out. Excited? I certainly hope so! :)**


	23. What Friends are For

**Hey there! Well, here's the second chapter of today's Merry Christmas double update! I hope you enjoy it despite all the drama that occurs. To give you a recap, this is where the sixteen members of the New Directions from season 3 finally become fully reunited, only for a full out World War Glee of drama to occur. How will this all unfold? Read on and find out oh faithful readers! :)**

**Again, I do not own Glee, and I don't own any of the songs used in this either.**

**Chapter 23:**

**What Friends are For**

It was 12:55 in the Lima, Ohio time zone, and the current flight from New York City to Lima was thus due to land at any minute. Even as she had that thought, Santana could feel the plane gradually descend and could see the sight of the ground landscape become increasingly larger and clearer to focus on as the plane got closer to landing on the runway. Brittany too could feel the plane descending, and had a giddy smile on her face as she thought of how she was on the verge of reuniting with some of the greatest friends she'd ever known in her life.

Santana, however, was not feeling nearly as happy as Brittany. In fact, she really wasn't feeling very happy at all. She sighed as she thought of how with each second, she was getting closer and closer to landing in an area that could very possibly have already been tainted with the presence of that damned big mouthed womanizer who'd had the nerve to sweep the long time love of her life off her feet and into his arms.

Her foul mood was only further strengthened when she saw a massive plane that was marked with the logo of Artie's studio zooming off into the sky and away from the airport. Due to how Brittany had also kept close tech-based relations with Artie, Santana knew that the wheelchair bound playboy was close friends with Sam and Mercedes, and that Mercedes and Sam had likely come with Artie on that very jet.

Santana rolled her eyes as she bitterly accepted that, like it or not, she was going to have to just groan and bear it when she inevitably saw the fair-haired hippopotamus that she now hated with such passion. Brittany, meanwhile, had no such unpleasant petty emotions foaming around in her mind as she eagerly awaited her upcoming reunion with her friends.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the two women, Blaine was sitting in the row of seats that was exactly nine rows behind them. Blaine sighed in content as he rubbed his fingers through his carefully gelled-up dark hair in anticipation of when the plane landed and the time finally came for him to disembark down onto the familiar Lima soil. Unlike Brittany and Santana though, Blaine was neither excited to the point of being ditzy nor venomously dreading what was soon to come. In fact, Blaine was of a mixed form of both these emotions. A part of him was eagerly looking forward to meeting up with his friends from the glee club, and in particular Sam and Kurt. However, another part of him was uncertain about how he would inevitably have to confront Kurt and receive closure from him about the matter of his proposal to him 22 years ago. He just couldn't help but wonder what Kurt might say about that. He hoped more than ever now that Kurt wouldn't say no; but there was still always that small nagging fear. Blaine sighed again, but this time in a more resigned manner. "Oh well," he thought to himself "here goes nothing."

. . . . .

Meanwhile, on another plane that was also on the verge of landing, Noah Puckerman smirked maliciously, placed the magazine he'd been reading back into the seat pocket on the back of the seat in front of him, and stretched out his palms in anticipation. Puck had to admit that it had certainly been a long time since he'd left this place to return to L.A. after Finn had graduated from the University of Lima. "Screw that," Puck thought to himself, "It's been 22 damn long years since I was last here."

Despite himself, Puck was actually looking forward to spending the next few months back in the practical Loser Ville town that he'd grown up in. After all, as inconspicuous and unmemorable as Lima was, it still felt like home, and especially more so when he was hanging there with any or all of his friends from the glee club. Puck's smile grew even wider as he remembered how, right at that moment, a vast majority of the New Directions members from during his senior year were likely already at the airport awaiting his glorious arrival.

Puck was looking forward to meeting up with his glee club friends, especially Finn and Quinn, that not even the abrupt jolt that resulted from the plane landing could jar him out of his good spirits. Puck grinned as he thought of how many of his teachers from his years at McKinley High would have found the fact that he was wearing his seat belt here on this plane to be news to them. "Sure, I may be a bit of an overly addicted thrill-seeker, but even bad-asses like me know the difference between cool and just plain stupid," he thought to himself, unconsciously preparing himself to unbuckle his seat belt when the time came for the passengers to depart from the plane.

Within seconds after the call was made that it was safe for the passengers to unbuckle their seat belts and leave the plane, Puck undid his seat belt so quickly that it would have appeared to have never even been buckled to begin with to the other passengers if any of them had happened to look closely enough at the unbuckling of the belt. Puck got up from his seat and stretched his arms and hands up into the air before leisurely opening up the overhead compartment above him to retrieve his carry-on luggage. With that task out of the way, Puck smiled once more as he confidently made his way off the plane and into the tunnel connecting the L.A. connection plane from Chicago to the Chicago-Lima flight terminal. "This town had better be ready for some serious badassness, because the great party animal, Puck, is back!"

. . . . .

Rory gingerly breathed in the fresh Lima, Ohio air as he walked around on the asphalt ground that served as the landing site for his private jet. Only five feet or so of walking stood between him and the nearest entrance to the airport where his friends from the New Directions glee club would hopefully be awaiting him.

Rory smiled happily, his blue eyes agleam as he thought of how much he was looking forward to reconnecting with his much-missed pals from his time as a foreign exchange student. He especially looked forward to reuniting with Sam, Finn, Joe, Brittany, and especially Sugar. Already his mind was at work at planning possible social and friendly outings for him and Sugar to go on together. Admittedly, he knew that the presence of Artie would definitely be a sour note to his joyous return to America, but at that moment, Rory didn't care. At long last, Rory had returned to his home away from home.

Within seconds, Rory reached the top of the stairs leading up from his private landing site to the tunnel, and from there to the exit from the tunnel into the airport. Upon reaching the inside of the airport, the 38 year old Irish celebrity raised the cowl of the dark blue hoodie he'd donned over his normal clothes over his head as he started making his way down the direction that the signs pointing the way for the designated meeting ground indicated for him to go. If any of the other people in the airport had deigned to look closely enough at him, they would have noticed the slight briskness in which he suddenly started walking. In fact, it took all of Rory's willpower not to dash down the hall. With every second that passed, he was now coming closer and closer to what would hopefully be on the list of his best early days of this New Year.

. . . . .

Finn and the other nine New Directions alumni who'd already arrived for the reunion were sitting around together at the designated meeting ground, feverishly awaiting the next few arrivals that would allow the group to be fully reunited after so many long years. The majority of the other people who'd been in this area of the airport had already left, leaving the New Directions alumni virtually on their own together as they waited. Finn in particular was shaking in anticipation. Even now he could hardly believe how after so many months since his near fatal gunshot attack incident he had actually lived to see the day that he and all his friends from the glee club during his senior year were about to finally reunite once again and be like the family of friends that they'd once been. Only now did he realize just how much tension he was at risk of causing to flare up as well as how much stress from the anticipation of this day had built up inside him and was at risk of explosively being let out and how very lucky he was that things were so far going well.

He turned his head to Rachel and said, "I hope you're still looking forward to meeting up with the last remaining arrivals."

Rachel smiled, and responded, "I certainly am."

"That's good," Finn replied. "Man, I am so lucky that so far there haven't been any members to arrive that have had significant past tension between each other. Still, bad news is, for all I know their might soon be some members from that very category on their way right now."

"Don't you worry Finn, everything will be fine in the end. Besides, it wouldn't be the glee club if there weren't any drama."

Finn chuckled, and responded, "Well that's certainly true."

Right behind Rachel and Finn, Kurt rolled his eyes, for while he did agree with what Rachel had said about how drama always seemed to follow along closely behind the New Directions glee club, he was still wishing now more than ever that he himself wasn't on the verge of experiencing a very real drama that he'd spent the last 22 years dancing around and weaseling his way out of the way of.

A few minutes later, all ten of the waiting New Directions alumni whooped and shouted joyously as one when they all happened to look ahead down the path they were facing and saw Brittany and Santana walking down the hall towards them. Brittany smiled widely at the sight of her enthusiastic friends and ran down the remaining left of the space between her and them. Santana, meanwhile, made the most convincing happy smile she could make and continued walking down the hall at a more relaxed pace.

By the time Santana had made it all the way down to where her peers among the New Directions alumni were gathered, Brittany had already gone through greeting and embracing all ten of the members who had been awaiting her and Santana, and was now in the midst of an embrace with the last waiting member she'd greeted, who by sheer bad luck turned out to be Sam. Santana clenched her fists at the sight of this, but she tried her best to take deep breaths and remain calm despite how her mind was seething with jealousy and rage at the sight of the friendly exchange between Brittany and Sam that seemed in her mind to be both taking far longer than appropriate and also seemed more companionable then what would take place between two people who were just merely friends.

After exactly five minutes, Santana finally had enough, and she pointedly tapped Brittany on the shoulder. The look in the Latina's eyes clearly conveyed the message "That's long enough," to Brittany. Upon sight of this Brittany reluctantly let go of Sam, who turned to face Santana with a guilty half smile on his face.

"Hey there Santana," Sam said sheepishly. Santana remained silent, and only glared at him, thus making Sam feel even more uncomfortable. Mercedes was also starting to feel uncomfortable as she observed how Santana was acting towards Sam.

Finn saw what was going on as well, and in an effort to cool down the tension, he walked over to the two new arrivals, clasped his hands together, and said with a smile, "Welcome back girls. We are honored that you were able to come."

"Thank you very much Finn, now please get your wooly trunk out of my business," Santana said back curtly without even looking at Finn. Finn sighed, and shook his head from side to side. Things could definitely have been going better at that moment.

Rachel put her hand on Finn's shoulder, and stated soothingly to him, "It's alright. Santana always gets in moods like this. She should cool down eventually."

"You've got that right Rachel," Quinn stated in agreement as she too stared at the tense situation beginning to unfold between Santana and Sam.

"I certainly agree," Joe said in the midst of rubbing his fingers through his dread locks. "Hopefully there won't be anything to worry about. If God so wills it, then things will turn out alright in the end between everyone, Sam and Santana included."

Quinn smiled, wrapped her right arm around Joe so that it was resting across his shoulders, and said, "Indeed it will."

"You seem pretty close with Joe," Mercedes said to Quinn in an effort to distract herself from how her husband was now slowly backing away from Santana, who was still glaring daggers at him like a basilisk, and not the factual kind that ran on water. Mike and Tina quickly nodded in agreement, for they to needed a distraction from what was unfolding between Sam and Santana.

"Well of course I am," Quinn responded with a smile on her face "The way he puts it, I practically owe him my life. If he hadn't stood up to that creep who was trying to push him forward and over me with his adult teen Jesus lawyer awesomeness, I'd have been trampled to death by now. He's my guardian angel."

Joe smiled warmly at Quinn's praise. He had to admit that he'd certainly made a good impression on her considering how that incident had been practically the first time they'd actually encountered each other and reconnected as friends in 22 years.

Unfortunately, Puck had chosen that exact inopportune moment to enter the area, and he started in surprise at hearing the last phrase that Quinn had said whilst seeing her appearing to chum around with Joe. "Who's your guardian angel?" he asked very loudly.

At the sound of the unexpected voice from in front of her and Joe, Quinn looked up in the direction in had come from in surprise, and saw Puck standing not too far away with a guitar case and small carry-on suitcase in his hands, his head spouting its trademark Mohawk, and his face clearly etched in a surprised and slighted expression.

"Oh, welcome back to Lima Puck, I didn't realize you were here," Quinn said with slight nervousness as she wondered how long Puck may have been there watching and listening to her talking so commendably about Joe. Joe groaned inwardly at the sight of the look Puck was directing towards him and Quinn. He had completely forgotten about Puck's earlier history with Quinn.

Finn turned his head towards Puck, a smile on his face at the sight of his best friend aside from Rachel, and he raised his hand to give Puck a high-five. "Hey man! Welcome back to Lima! I'm so glad you came!"

Puck half-heartedly returned Finn's high-five without even turning his glance away from Quinn and Joe, who were still standing together returning Puck's gaze. Quinn now looked very nervous and uncomfortable under Puck's scrutiny, and Joe had the same borderline rage-filled look that had been on his face directly before he'd lashed out at the rude passenger who'd been trying to push him forward and hurry up the disembarking process. "Forget it, you're not touching her," Joe thought angrily towards Puck. "I'm not going to let you harm her in any way, shape, or form."

Finn sighed in annoyance, and took a series of deep breaths as he tried to keep his slowly escalating temper under control. Already, the joyous celebratory mood that had been in the atmosphere for so long now was rapidly starting to crumble apart as jumbo jet-plane loads of tension began to build up between the new arrivals and the members who'd already been waiting for them alongside him. Kurt also couldn't help but sigh in irritation as he himself watched the drama that was rapidly unfolding in front of him. Still, he also couldn't help but feel a guilty sense of relief that his own reason for drama hadn't yet arrived.

Unfortunately, that particular thought had come far too soon now for Kurt. For right at that very moment, he saw Blaine walking down the hall towards him and the others. Kurt sighed resignedly as he saw the happy smile that was on Blaine's face, which was still as handsome as ever.

Blaine couldn't have felt happier as he walked towards Kurt with a happy smile lighting up his face and making his dark eyes gleam. At long last, he was finally seeing Kurt in person once more after nineteen years of waiting following Kurt's graduation from NYADA. He couldn't help but feel his doubts and fears seem to melt away as he gazed at Kurt. In fact, he was so focused on Kurt at the moment that he remained completely oblivious to the bedlam that was on the verge of ensuing between many of the other New Directions alumni that had beaten him here. Kurt, meanwhile, merely stood where he was, sighing half-heartedly as he stoically how, like it or not, the encounter that he'd spent so long both dreading and looking forward to at the same time had finally come.

Finn, who had just now seen Blaine, eagerly took the newfound opportunity to try to distract himself from the current drama and cool down the stress boiling up inside him, and with as convincing a smile as he could muster, he said, "Welcome back to Lima Blaine. I am very happy that you were able to make it."

"It certainly is nice to see you again after so many years following graduation Blaine," Rachel said with a definitely real smile on her face. "I should mention that I heard about the reviews you were given for your performances in the UK _West Side Story_ tour, and I was very impressed."

"Thanks Rachel, I'm very happy to hear that," Blaine replied with his smile widening.

Seconds later, Blaine took the last few steps necessary and stopped directly in front of Kurt, who was hanging his head. Still smiling, Blaine bowed his head slightly and greeted, "Hello Kurt. It's very nice to see you again."

Kurt sighed, reluctantly raised his head to look Blaine in the eyes, and responded, "It's very nice to see you to Blaine."

Meanwhile, Sam had noticed Blaine's arrival out of the corner of his eye, and he now felt a slight tremor of nerves build up in him, for he still felt slightly uneasy around Blaine after so many years following his marriage to Mercedes. Despite how much Blaine had made his true unending love for Kurt clear to him over the years and continued to claim that his crush on Sam was truly over with, Sam still felt those slight fearful doubts. Of course, the fact that Santana was still bellicosely leering at him didn't make him feel any less ill at ease.

Seconds later, none other than Rory Flanagan himself came around the corner of the left wall of the small hallway that led straight to where the New Directions alumni were gathered. Smiling ecstatically, the Irishman strolled down towards his friends, completely oblivious to the drama unfolding. Finn smiled at the sight of Rory, and winked at him in greeting in a desperate attempt to keep his emotions under control. Rachel also smiled at Rory, and gave him a wave.

Unfortunately, right behind Finn and Rachel, Artie was hunched over in his wheelchair as he warily gazed at Rory. Until Rory's arrival, the wheelchair bound director had been the only one apart from Rachel, Finn, and the Changs who hadn't gotten himself involved in a situation of tension. Now, seeing Rory walking down straight towards him and his friends, Artie couldn't help but feel wary as the old memories he had of how he and Rory had competed for Sugar's heart began to resurface in his mind.

At that exact same moment, Artie caught the scent of perfume coming up from behind him, and he turned his head to look over his shoulder to what was behind him. He smiled at the sight of Sugar walking towards him and the rest of his friends in the New Directions from his junior year from behind. He had to admit that for a young woman who'd recently escaped from an apparently very hectic and trying time as CEO of Motta Pianos, she still looked no less good looking then she had as a teenager, and in fact looked even better then she had as a teen now that she was an adult.

Sugar smiled briefly at the sight of Artie, but the smile abruptly turned into an awkward guilty grimace as she appeared to catch sight of something in front of Artie. Upon sight of this, Artie turned his head away from Sugar to look ahead once more, and of course, saw Rory standing at least three feet away with a look of suspicion on his face. "Dagnabbit," Artie thought venomously to himself. "Why did we both have to arrive here before her?" At the exact same time as Artie had these thoughts going through his mind, Rory was thinking along very similar lines, and had a murderous glare fixed at Artie from one eye while the other looked at Sugar as if he were slightly confused yet also feeling betrayed at the same time.

Finn sighed unhappily when he saw the look in Rory's eyes. He knew exactly how Rory felt in order to have the kind of look he had in the eye that was looking at Sugar. He himself had also had that look once in both of his eyes 22 years ago when he'd given Rachel a surprise visit in New York a few months after his semi-honorable discharge only to find her in her apartment room with Brody.

In an attempt to try to distract herself from the tension that was on the verge of building up between the two boys who'd once dueled each other for her affections 23 years ago, Sugar walked up to Finn, tapped him on the shoulder, and said, "Well, it's certainly nice for us all to be back together don't you think?"

"Indeed," Finn said. At this point, he was surprised that he'd even been able to manage saying any word, much less one that lasted more than one syllable.

Sugar noticed this in Finn's tone, and reluctantly walked up between Artie and Rory. Nervously grinning, she said, "Hello Artie. Welcome back Rory."

Both men gave a half smile towards her, but the smiles never reached their eyes; and in turn, their eyes never left each other. Seconds later, Artie started wheeling his way towards Sugar right as Rory resolutely made his way towards Sugar as well. Artie parked his wheelchair right next to Sugar from her right at the exact same time as Rory came to a stop right next to Sugar from her left.

Grimacing, Sugar pleadingly begged to both of them, "Guys, please, not now."

Artie barred his gritted teeth at Rory, and said through his clenched teeth, "Welcome back Leprechaun."

"Nice to see you too Android," Rory replied with the same sarcastic tone.

At the sound of this hostile exchange, Finn sighed heavily, closed his eyes, and started counting to ten in an attempt to calm himself down; all the while with his fists clenched. Rachel too, couldn't help but gaze nervously at what was unfolding between her peers from the glee club at the time of her senior year. She was now beginning to worry about whether or not things might not end quite as happily today as she'd hoped.

Even as Rachel was having these thoughts, Artie pointed his finger accusingly at Rory and hissed, "I don't care how much of a big shot idol you are in that clover-infested island you live on, but now that you're on American soil, I'm telling you right now that you had better stay away from Sugar, or else!"

"Oh really? Says you and what army? On that note, perhaps you haven't noticed, but I arrived at her side first just a few seconds ago."

"The Hell you did! I beat you to her, fair and square!"

"You're obviously blind then."

"Said the guy who doesn't wear glasses, and I must admit that you're accent has improved. I'll bet that even Brittany could understand what you're saying now."

"Guys, you both arrived by my sides at the same time," Sugar said in an attempt to make peace between the two rivals for her affection.

"Oh really?" Artie asked before turning his head back to Rory and saying, "Well I can't let that happen. No way am I letting this competition end in a draw Irish!"

"Oh it will end in a draw alright Wheels; with me drawing all over your face with a permanent marker once I've dealt with you completely."

At that point, tensions reached exploding point as long dormant rivalries and enmities violently reawakened and intense drama began spouting everywhere among the assorted New Directions alumni that didn't include Finn and Rachel. Finn turned his head up towards the ceiling and breathed rapidly as he tried harder than ever to stop himself from adding his own angry voice to the cacophony of indignant voices that was now beginning to blare irritatingly in his ears. Rachel put her hands over her ears, closed her eyes, and said repeatedly to herself, "This is not happening, this is not happening, this is not happening. . ." But it was. The joyous reunion that the love of her life had put so much hard work into setting up and had been eagerly awaiting for the last few months was now, within a mere few minutes, rapidly falling apart.

Artie acerbically growled, "You want your sweet little spoonful of Sugar Motta back? You're gonna have to pry her out of my cold dead hands!"

"That won't be necessary," Rory hissed, his voice in a tone that was steaming with poison. "All I have to do is wait for some other pretty girl to waltz into your sights, and you'll toss Sugar away right back into my waiting arms! You may think that you love Sugar, but your love for her, and every other girl you've gotten involved with has only lasted for whatever amount of time it took for another girl that was prettier than the last one to come on over and sweep you right back off your feet! Unlike you, I actually had the decency to stay single for her all these years!"

"Well at least I didn't abandon her!"

"Like I had any choice in that matter! The only reason I had to leave her behind in the first place was because your stupid country wouldn't let me stay longer than my sophomore year in high school!"

"Don't you dare insult me, or my country, ever again, or God help me, I will run you over!"

"Is that supposed to terrify me? Very funny pal!"

"Damn right it is, and I'm serious! With this chair, I can run you over just as easily as I could in my Rolls Royce!"

"As if! Unlike with a car, I'll I have to do is kick you or your chair while you're in the midst of charging at me and you'll tip right over, and I'll be able to just walk right out of the area completely unharmed, and with Sugar on my arm!"

"Artie, Rory, please, this really isn't necessary," Sugar pleaded desperately.

Artie leered furiously at Rory. "You wanna piece of me Clover Face?"

"Not as much as you wanna piece of me Penis Breath!"

Meanwhile, at the very back of the overall group of gathered New Directions alumni, the verbal exchange going on between Kurt and Blaine wasn't going any better.

"So, how's life been treating you in New York? I hear you've been working as the new CEO of . I'm proud of you."

"Thank you very much Blaine," Kurt said curtly, trying his hardest to keep it together under the combined stress of talking with Blaine and having to hear the drama unfolding around him.

"Is it true that Unique's one of your interns? I wonder how she's been doing under your leadership."

"She's doing perfectly," Kurt replied quickly. "Perhaps you could have a friendly talk with her and observe some of her work after you return to New York."

"How's Rachel been doing? I'll bet she must have been pretty excited to see Finn again after all these years, not to mention you considering the fact that he's your step brother."

"She's been doing perfectly fine Blaine. I'm just as happy as anyone else would that she and Finn have finally seen each other again after so long."

Blaine, as if noticing Kurt's tone of voice for the first time, stared at him with a look clearly filled with suspicion. As he did so, he finally realized that there appeared to be a massive commotion going on behind him, and he rose his eyebrows at Kurt before asking, "Kurt, what's going on right now?"

"Look Blaine, I'm happy to see you, but I can't really talk with you right now! I'm barely keeping it together right now as it is with all this drama unfolding between the rest of our friends! And look, I know it's been 22 years, but I'm still not ready to give you a straight answer on the matter of your proposal to me!"

At the exact same time as the drama between Kurt and Blaine was taking place, things were starting to get extremely serious between Puck, Joe, and Quinn.

Puck raised his eyebrow at Joe, and then said, "Are you sure that Quinn was referring to you as her guardian angel? Last time I checked, I was the one who had the lock on that title."

"Oh really? Well if that's true, then where were you when I had to stop that stupid head who was threatening to make me trample Quinn to death against my will from making me do so?" Joe retorted venomously.

Puck, now angrier than before, pointed his finger accusingly at Joe and yelled, "Don't you try and guilt trip me pal! As far as guardian angels go, Quinn deserves a kick-ass warrior with guts like me!"

"That's not true! Quinn is a good girl, and she deserves better then you!" Joe shouted back angrily without thinking.

At the sound of this, Puck's face nearly turned the same shade of purple as the carpet on the floor areas to the side of the hardened floor between the terminals. Puck then replied acerbically, "I know, for a fact, that you did not just say that."

"Oh yeah? Well you're obviously deaf then, because I perfectly clearly heard myself say that." Joe stated with unwavering conviction.

At the sound of this, Puck started making his way resolutely towards Joe with an enraged glare etched on his face. Joe was just getting himself ready to make his way towards Puck when Quinn stepped up in front of him and spread her arms out to the side in a placating gesture.

"Puck, please," Quinn said. "You don't have to do this."

Puck stopped in his tracks, took a deep breath, and stated, "Quinn, get out of the way."

"No, I won't let you do this."

"Says you and what army?"

"Puck, I'm serious. If you kill, or even hurt Joe, I will be partially at fault for it, and I'll have to live with the guilt for the rest of my life. If you truly care about me as much as you've always claimed, then I know that you wouldn't want that."

"Quinn, I'm serious, if you don't get out of the way, I might have to make you get out of the way, and I'd really rather not risk getting arrested again. I've already done so much better than I could have since I went to juvie for when I stole that ATM, and I'd rather I not go down that kind of road again."

"Puck, please just listen to me," Quinn said with tears starting to form in her eyes. "Look, I know that I've been acting distant from you lately and I'm sorry that what we had in the past didn't go the way you would have liked it to, but I'm begging you, don't take this out on Joe."

"Quinn, this is your last chance. I am begging you, get out of the way."

However, at this point, Joe had realized the sense in what Quinn was saying, as well as how she was on the verge of crying, and he said, "No Puck, Quinn's right, we shouldn't be doing this."

Puck raised his eyebrows angrily at Joe and said, "A real man doesn't cower behind a woman Joe."

"Puck, there's a difference between being brave and being stupid. Being brave doesn't mean you go looking for trouble, and neither does it mean that you just blindly rush into situations without giving any thought as to what you're actually going to do once you've gotten yourself involved in it."

"Don't you ever lecture me angel boy! I'm already tempted enough right now to grab those large wooly tentacles of yours and tear them off by the roots without you shedding your gospel advice crap!"

"Puck," Quinn said with the desperation now clearer than ever in her voice. "Don't do this. I am begging you. Think of how Beth would feel if she found out about this. . ."

"Don't you dare use Beth against me!" Puck roared furiously.

Quinn gasped, and attempted to take a deep breath, but Puck continued angrily, "You don't have the right to even say a word about her towards me after how you've just now disgraced her memory!"

"Puck, you are overreacting," Quinn said pleadingly.

"The Hell I am! I'm the one who knocked you up with Beth in the first place! Hell, you even were willing to sell out to Principal Figgins about how I attempted to have an affair with Rachel's mom just so you could have Beth back in your custody! But what did you do? You oh so willingly started fooling around with Mr. Joe Bloody Hart and cast me away like a piece of damn garbage! I don't care how ashamed of me you are, or how much you wish that Joe could have been Beth's father instead of me, but the fact is, I was the father, and you can't change the past, no matter how badly you want to!"

"Puck, you are going too far!" Joe howled indignantly.

"Shut your trumpet blowing trap Archangel Gabriel! I'm already on the verge of allowing all Hell to break loose on both you and Quinn right now!"

"Puck, I'm sorry that I made you feel unwanted," Quinn said in a desperate final throw of the dice, "but if you do what you're about to do, then you will have truly finally hit rock bottom. You will have to live the rest of your life with both my death and Joe's on your conscious, and you will never forgive yourself!"

Even as this desperate argument was taking place, the worst drama unfolding at the exact same time by far, was the one regarding Sam and Santana.

"I'm only going to tell you this once pelican," Santana growled venomously at Sam. "If you have as much sense in that feather covered head of yours as God gave a damn goose, then you will stay away from Brittany!"

"Santana," Sam responded in a clear effort to keep his temper under control "For the thousandth time, what Brittany and I had together is over! I've moved on since then, and so has Brittany! Just let it go!"

"Oh I'll let it go alright, once I have you in position to fall down with it!"

"Santana, this really isn't necessary," Brittany said with the concern clear in her voice as she placed her hand on Santana's shoulder and pleadingly stating, "Please, Santana. I'm begging you. This needs to stop."

"Stay out of this Brittany! This is strictly between me and that metamorphic tongued hippopotamus and I don't want you to have to suffer the collateral damage!" Santana shouted back without even looking at Brittany.

Sam took a deep breath, very obviously struggling to refrain from letting his anger get the better of him, and he stated, "Santana, do not make this harder than it has to be!"

"Or else what? You'll bore me to death with your latest crappy Jack Black impression? Well I am so shaking with terror right now, but frankly I'd sooner kiss my own ass!"

At this point, Brittany directed a pleading look towards Mike and Tina. Mike, having once dated her in the past while still a student at McKinley High, and remembering how close of a friend he was with Sam and Mercedes, decided to take the plunge and try to get things settled down.

Mike promptly stepped up between Sam and Santana, and said with as much authority in his voice as he could muster, "That's enough! Santana, you're starting to terrify Brittany! What's done is done, and none of this needless arguing is going to change that!"

Santana gave Mike such an angry glare that Mike would have already been a walking corpse if looks could kill. She then bitterly hissed, "Oh great! What is this? All of Brittany's Ex-Boyfriends Gang up against me and Defend Brittany and Each Other Day? Stay out of my business!"

Tina angrily shouted, "You leave my husband out of this!"

Santana furiously retorted, "It's not my fault that Happy Feet here stuck his tone-deaf beak where it doesn't belong! He didn't have to take a stand against me to defend Mr. Slut over here!"

"Don't you dare call my husband that Santana!" Mercedes shouted in fury.

"And that applies to you too you obese black canary!" Santana roared back in reflex.

Mercedes clenched her fist, took a step forward, and said, "Santana, I'm warning you, if you don't stop this hare-brained claptrap, then I swear, I am going to give you a smile that's all gums!"

Santana folded her arms across her chest, glared at Mercedes, and then retorted, "You know what? Maybe I will. Actually, I probably should be yelling at you, since it is, in a way, your fault that this situation unfolded in the first place!"

"You're saying this is all my fault!?" Mercedes yelled, scandalized by the angle that Santana was now taking.

"Damn right it is Wheezy! If you'd been smart enough to keep a stronger romantic connection between you and Trouty Mouth here, then he would never have felt the need to go gallivanting off to the dark side of the moon with my girl!"

At that point, with all the drama unfolding in front of him, and with his head now facing directly towards it all, Finn was now just barely keeping himself together as he desperately tried to think of anything but the living nightmare that was now taking place before his eyes, all the while rapidly inhaling and exhaling and repeatedly clenching and unclenching his fists.

Even Rachel was now on pins and needles as she watched how all her friends were now practically warring amongst each other to the point that the love of her life was about to completely go berserk. In an attempt to diffuse the tension, Rachel walked carefully up to Santana and pleaded, "Santana, please, let's all just talk this out. . ."

Unfortunately, before Rachel could finish, Santana turned around to face her, and angrily roared, "Stay out of this hobbit, and keep your nose out of other people's business . . . !"

"ENOUGH!" Finn roared furiously.

In a flash, all fifteen of the other New Directions alumni who'd been members alongside Finn during his senior year stopped talking, turned their heads towards him, and gaped at him in surprise and horror. Even Rachel was surprised, yet also impressed, at how much volume Finn had just now mustered.

After a few minutes, Santana regained her voice, and with an angry look on her face, she stormed resolutely over to Finn. When she came to a stop directly in front of Finn, she indignantly yelled, "You listen here Sasquatch; fine, so your perfect New Directions reunion has just now been ruined. Well boohoo for that, but the fact is that life's just unfair sometimes ok? So why don't you shut your maw and stay out of my business. . ." only to shriek in surprise when Finn abruptly grabbed her by the lapel and forcefully dragged her forward towards him before she could finish speaking.

"I SAID, ENOUGH!" Finn shouted so loudly that Santana's hair billowed around behind her head and Santana reflexively closed her eyes at the intensity of Finn's voice.

When Finn finished his furious shout and Santana managed to open her eyes, all the anger and arrogance had gone from her eyes, and she now gaped in horror and shock into Finn's own, now nightmarishly dark and furious, eyes.

Breathing heavily in a very angry manner, Finn slowly lowered Santana back down to the ground, let go, and slowly stepped back five steps away from his fellow glee club members gathered in front of him. All the while, his fists were tightly clenched, his body was tensed up, and his eyes were blazing with fury. His friends could only stand where they were; terrified as they saw how Finn was acting. Throughout all their years they'd spent in his company, they had never before seen him this angry.

At this point, Finn had completely lost his head. For six months and three weeks, he had worked so hard to set up this reunion. For so long now, he had waited with tense excitement and fear, knowing full well how much of a risk he'd been taking in gathering them all together after so long, all so that he and his friends from the glee club could all be together and have a chance to be like a family again at least one more time before they died. Now, with the joyous dream that he'd worked with such back-breaking dedication to achieve rapidly melting away before his eyes, and with Rachel having now gotten hit point blank in Santana's merciless crossfire, all the tension, stress, and passion that had built up inside him over the last six and a half months was now dangerously close to erupting out of him.

Finn took five quick breaths, and slowly hissed, "Rachel, please get behind me right now."

Rachel, frightened at how furious Finn was, but touched by how he was even now trying to get her safely out of reach of what was sure to be an extremely tense situation, quickly obeyed and rushed away from her fourteen friends that had earlier been arguing and positioned herself directly behind Finn.

The instant Rachel was standing safely behind him, Finn took three more angry breaths, and then yelled, "What the Hell is wrong with you people! I thought we were better than this!"

"Dude, calm down," said Puck. "It's not my fault that everybody's got a reason to be tense. . ."

"SHUT UP AND LISTEN TO ME!" Finn furiously roared before stomping his right foot down on the floor so hard that the hard tiled floor cracked under his foot. The fourteen gleeks gathered in front of him reared back in horror at the sight of what had just happened. After what seemed like an eternity to the outraged Finn, all fourteen of them turned their heads so that they were all facing him.

With an angry snarl, Finn yelled out, "I can't believe this! What on Earth happened to you all!? Look at yourselves! What would Mr. Schuester think?!"

The other gleeks gulped, and hung their heads in shame. Finn growled, and continued, "If Mr. Schue had been here to see you all the way you were a few minutes ago, he'd be ashamed of you! All of you! What you were doing is the exact opposite of everything he taught you, everything we stood for, everything we fought for, everything we believed in!"

Finn straightened himself so he was standing straight up at his full height, and shouted,

"Do you have any idea how disappointed I am in you all?!"

Before anyone had a chance to risk interrupting, Finn continued, "You know what? No one made me do this! There was no law that required me to have us all come together here for a reunion! I could have just let you all move along in your lives and paid attention to my own life only! But I didn't! Do you even know why?!"

At the sound of this, the fourteen gleeks who'd been arguing looked each other awkwardly in the eyes, then back at Finn with sheepish grimaces on their faces. Even Rachel winced as she realized that even she hadn't quite been aware of all the details behind Finn's motives.

Finn took a deep breath, and said, "I'll tell you why! Remember how there was a shootout at the Food Lion here in Lima last June? Remember anything that was said in the news about how one victim had to go to the hospital to have surgery for a life-threatening injury?!"

"Yes we do Finn, and I'm sorry that whoever it was had to go through that, but what does that have to do with any of us?" Santana asked.

Finn gaped at Santana; his eyes flooded with a mixture of shock and anger. At the sight of this, Santana gulped, for she now had a bad feeling that she'd just now said the wrong words.

Finn stated, "I can't believe you Santana! The very person that you just now so rudely dismissed as meaningless is standing right here talking to you!"

At the sound of that, all fifteen of the other gleeks who had responded favorably to Finn's invitation for the reunion gaped at him in shock as they finally realized the full extent of what Finn had just told them.

"Oh my God," Rachel said with her hands rising up to her mouth.

Finn pointed his finger towards the fourteen New Directions alumni standing in front of him and bitterly yelled, "I could have been killed! I could have died that day and I wouldn't have been able to say goodbye to any of you! That's why I decided to have this reunion! I had us all come together here in Lima so that we could hang out together like a family the way we used to at least once before any of us died; and this is how I'm rewarded?! We're supposed to be friends, yet here you are acting like children!

"Why did I have us all come together for a reunion? Was I paid to do this? No! Was I forced to do this? No! Is there a law that required me to do this? No! I did this so that we could be together as a family of friends just like we were in high school! Are we a family of friends?!"

The fourteen gleeks gathered in front of Finn said nothing. They looked each other in the eyes, uncertain as to how they should answer.

Finn took a deep angry breath, and then loudly repeated, "I said, are we a family of friends?!"

"Yes!" all fifteen of his glee club friends from his senior year, even Rachel, shouted out in reply.

"Then act like one!" Finn roared. "For God's sake, act like one!"

For a few seconds afterward, Finn stared angrily at the fourteen former New Directions members gathered in front of him, breathing heavily. Eventually, the massive inferno of rage that had come upon him began to cool off and die down, and Finn's furious face changed into a horrified gasp as he seemed to notice for the first time how terrified his friends looked and realized the full extent of what he'd just done.

"Oh God," Finn said in horror. "I'm so sorry, I have no idea what got into me. . ."

"No Finn, you're right," Rachel said taking a place right next to him and grasping him by the hand.

Finn turned his head to look Rachel in the eyes, and she continued, "It's not your fault Finn, this needed to happen."

Finn made a half smile, and nodded.

Rachel turned her head to face her fourteen friends that Finn had just spent the last few minutes shouting at, and said, "Finn's right. We shouldn't be doing any of this. Sure not all of us are as close in friendship as others, and sure there was plenty of tension like this when we were in the New Directions. But the fact is, like it or not, we were a family back then, and Finn invited us all to come together so that we could be a family again like we used to. Finn spent months working to make this possible, so that we could all have a chance to be together again like we used to at least one more time before any of us died, and he doesn't deserve to be rewarded for his efforts by all of us fighting each other."

As Rachel said this, all fourteen of the gleeks standing in front of her and Finn looked each other in the eyes, looked back at Rachel and Finn, and then nodded as one.

"You're right," Puck said. "This is stupid. Finn nearly died, and we're all treating this like he got a frigging prostate check."

Kurt nodded, a guilty look on his face, and stated, "Finn's right. Drama or no drama, we are a family; and families shouldn't be divided like this."

"Damn right they shouldn't," Artie responded in agreement, his eyes directed towards the floor as he realized how close he'd been to unleashing a bloodbath between himself and Rory. "We're supposed to be friends, yet here we all are acting like barbarians. We shouldn't be doing that; it's not what Mr. Schuester would have wanted, and we owe it to Finn."

Santana sniffed, tears on the verge of forming in her eyes as she too realized how childish she had been just now. For the last 22 years, all of her friends from the glee club had moved on so happily with their lives, and she had been too jealous to let go of her stupid grudge against Sam. Now, she realized how Sam truly wasn't at fault anymore, and that she had been the one who'd been petty and distrustful.

She then felt a hand on her shoulder from behind her. She turned her head and saw Brittany standing behind her. With a compassionate smile on her face, Brittany said, "It's ok, I'm right here."

Crying now, Santana hugged Brittany, tears streaming down her face as she thought of how much better things could've gone right now if she hadn't let her darn jealousy get in the way. The other twelve gleeks who'd been arguing amongst each other sniffed, and bowed their heads in shame.

After what seemed like an eternity, all sixteen of the former New Directions members finally calmed down and cheered up sufficiently to come back together. "Come on everyone," Finn said, his rage filled tone now replaced with a more calm and pleasant one. "We all deserve a hug." His fellow gleeks, eager to agree, happily complied, and they all gave each other a massive group hug.

When the group finally disengaged from their combined hug, they all moved slowly around into different sections of the area to try to calm themselves down some more from within.

As this happened, Finn said to Rachel, "Thanks, I really needed someone with a level head to finish things off there."

"You're welcome Finn. It was my pleasure to help you," Rachel said before looking down towards the ground with a depressed sigh.

Even now, 22 years after the heartbreaking break up, Finn was still so honest, kind, and pure at heart. "Why was I so stupid back then?" she thought to herself. "What was I thinking when I started to pursue a relationship with Brody? I should never have given up on Finn, I shouldn't have let Brody get so close to me, I should have kept faith in Finn. Darn it, I should have come back to visit him years ago."

As she had that last thought, Rachel unconsciously placed her hand on the left side of her abdomen, where she could still feel where the bruises had been when Brody had beaten her there during one of his more recent raging fits directed towards her. "This would never have happened if I'd been living with Finn," she thought to herself.

Finn noticed Rachel put her hand on her abdomen and seem to wince at a painful memory. Concerned, he asked, "Rachel? Is something wrong?"

Rachel looked up, a surprised look on her face, and replied, "No everything's fine." Unfortunately, the look on her face far too obviously conveyed how she herself didn't fully believe what she'd just said.

"Rachel, please be honest. You can trust me," said Finn.

Rachel looked Finn in the eyes, saw the concern and sincerity in them, and decided that she might as well get this monster out of the closet and into Finn's sight, and everyone else's for that matter.

"Guys," Rachel said loud enough for all of her assorted glee club friends to hear. "Please come here. There's something I'd really like to talk about right now."

All of the other gleeks gathered around her in a flash. All of them shared the same concerned look on their faces.

Rachel took a deep breath, exhaled, and then said, "Kurt already knows this, but now it's time that all of us knew."

"What are you talking about?" Santana asked.

Rachel hung her head, and replied. "I didn't tell you the full truth about my life outside of Broadway. For the last 13 years since my performance alongside Sam in _Beauty and the Beast_, I had a roommate living with me in my apartment. You guys already know him. His name is Brody Weston."

At the sound of that name, all fifteen of her audience members reared back and gasped in surprise. Finn in particular looked stunned. "Him?" he asked incredulously.

"No way," Puck said. "Isn't he that man-whore dude that you once dated after high school, and that Finn beat the snot out of directly before he became a student at the University of Lima?"

"Yes, that's him," Rachel replied, tears starting to form in her eyes as the painful memories of the last 13 years she'd spent living with Brody began to resurface in her mind.

"He wanted to go ahead and get started on his own Broadway career, but he felt like he would need a place to stay while he worked to get things settled and going smoothly. I was in need of someone to keep me company whenever Kurt was unable to come visit, and Brody made clear that this would just be a case of two friends doing each other a favor, so I agreed. For the first few years, things were going well, and it looked as if Brody might actually have a future in Broadway.

"However, as all of you who were told about him probably remember, he used to be a prostitute during his time in NYADA while dating me, and he met one of his former clients when he had a few days or so left to wait before an upcoming opportunity for a lead role in a musical. He tried his best to resist the temptation to accept her request to do the deed with her all over again, but he eventually gave in to go out with her on the night before the audition, and he stood her up just to make a point. Unfortunately, this resulted in her telling the Broadway producers about how he'd once been a prostitute. After that, all chances he'd had of having an amazing Broadway career went out the window. Every chance they got, they used that secret against him through their casting. At the very best, he got a minor role, and at the worst, he was merely given a position on the chorus line.

"He was angry and in despair for how his dreams had been yanked away from him, and he felt like he needed someone to blame. And so he blamed me for not helping him get his former client to leave him alone. Eventually, he quit Broadway altogether and became an alcoholic in an attempt to ease the pain, but nothing made him feel better. In fact, when he was drunk, things between me and him actually became even worse."

At this point, Rachel took a deep breath, for now she was about to have to bring up a very painful detail about this matter indeed. For a few minutes, her friends waited patiently, wondering just what Rachel had in store for them now. Finn eventually said, "Rachel, please continue. You can trust us."

Rachel nodded, and throwing all uncertainty to the winds, she raised her head so that everyone could get a clear look at her neck, and thus revealed the faded bruise marks from when Brody had at one point forcefully grabbed her by the throat and very nearly strangled her to death before Kurt had happened to come into the apartment and fight him off.

At the sight of what Rachel had just shown them, all fifteen of her friends reared back and gasped in horror.

Finn started rapidly breathing in and out, and angrily growled, "Why that sick little freak! How dare he!?"

"See how hazardous to my health living with him ended up becoming? I've been practically living with Kurt," Rachel said as she lowered her head back down to face her friends.

Finn stepped forward towards Rachel and asked, "How long has he been doing this to you?"

"For the last ten years," Rachel replied.

"Why didn't you do something about it?" Finn asked incredulously. "You deserve better than to be manhandled like that!"

"I know that Finn," Rachel said, the tears threatening to fall down her face at any moment. "But I was too afraid of what he would do if I tried to stand up to him. The only reason that Kurt was even willing to face up to Blaine again after all this time was because he cared about me enough as a friend to take advantage of this opportunity for me to escape and have you all here to help me and support me!"

At this point, Rachel completely lost it, and she tightly hugged Finn as she sobbed hysterically.

Finn returned her embrace, and said in her ear, "It's alright Rachel. Everything's going to be ok now. We're all here to help you."

The other fourteen gleeks nodded their heads in agreement with Finn and placed their hands over their hearts.

"I'm a pretty hardcore dude, but abuse like that against women is far too low, even for me," Puck said.

"A terrible sin it is for a man to strike a woman," Joe stated in agreement. "You did the right thing removing yourself from the clutches of that monster."

"Damn right she did," Santana chimed in. "That plastic-brained coward is so going to have it coming for him when we get to him."

After a while, Rachel finally managed to stop crying and let go of Finn. "Thank you so much," she then said. "I don't know if I'll ever be able to thank you enough for this."

At that point, Finn decided that now was the time for him and the other gleeks to really prove to Rachel in the biggest way they knew how much they truly cared about her and were going to be there for her during the reunion.

He looked around at all the other gleeks around him and Rachel, and asked, "Guys? How many of you have watched the Disney version of _The Jungle Book_?" All of the assembled New Directions alumni raised their hands.

Finn nodded, and asked, "How many of you remember how the song that the vultures sang to Mowgli went?" Once again, everyone raised their hands.

Finn smiled, and said, "Well in that case, time to get the show on the road."

"What's going on?" Rachel asked Finn.

Finn turned his head towards Rachel with a smile, and replied, "This is what friends are for."

Right at that moment, the other fourteen gleeks all started doing an acapella rendition of the opening musical notes to the classic Disney song, _That's What Friends are For_. Rachel couldn't help but smile as she realized what Finn was now doing for her.

When the time was right, Finn began the performance; and with back-up vocals from the other members of the New Directions alumni, it went something like this:

_(Finn)_

_When you're alone, who comes around?_

_To pluck you up, when you are down?_

_And when you're outside, looking in_

_Who's there to open the door?_

_That's what friends are for!_

_And when you're lost (alumni: when you're lost) in dire need (alumni: dire need)_

_Who's at your side (alumni: who's at your side?) at lightning speed? (alumni: lightning speed)_

_We're friends with every creature_

_Comin' down the pike_

_(Finn with the other alumni)_

_In fact we never met an animal we didn't like_

_So you can see (alumni: so you can see)_

_We're friends in need (alumni: friends in need)_

_And friends in need (alumni: friends in need)_

_Are friends indeed (alumni: are friends indeed)_

_We'll keep you safe_

_In the jungle forevermore  
That's . . . what . . . friends . . . are . . . for!_

The instant Finn finished the performance with the final heart stopping note, Rachel clapped excitedly, cheering with joy at the touching performance. Finn and the other gleeks smiled, happy to have shown their friend how much they truly cared.

Seconds later, much to the surprise of the sixteen gleeks, they heard more cheering coming from a few meters to the left of their collective group as a whole. They turned their heads in the direction that they were hearing the cheering coming from, and saw a large group of the airport staff applauding the performance.

Surprised, and slightly embarrassed by the unexpected attention, the sixteen friends looked each other in the eyes, then looked back at their audience with sheepish smiles on their faces.

When the applause finally came to an end, Finn nervously laughed, and said, "Hi! I'm glad that we impressed you so much with our performance!"

The airport staff who'd gathered cheered once again.

When the audience quieted down again, Finn pointed at them and said, "But please, if any journalists or any people who seem like possible obsessive or crazy fans of any of us ask, you saw nothing, ok?" The airport staff nodded hurriedly. Smiling, Finn turned his head towards his friends, and then said, "I think we'd better go ahead and get to the baggage claim."

The other gleeks were quick to agree, and they all immediately started off down the opposite direction to get to the baggage claim so that they could gather their luggage and discuss the matter of transport as soon as possible. After all, considering all the drama that had just unfolded a short while ago, they were not in the mood to deal with any paparazzi, journalists, or other crazy fans.

. . . . .

Four hours later, all sixteen of the gleeks were gathered around in the family room of Finn's house. All of them were seated in some part of the area surrounding the coffee table, which had multiple boxes of Domino's pizza stacked on it. The pizzas, of course, were rapidly vanishing away as the sixteen gleeks happily chowed down on them all. Considering how momentous an occasion this day was, combined with all the drama from earlier at the airport between them as well as a very thrill-inducing encounter with a mob of journalists and paparazzi, they all believed that a pizza party was the perfect way to cool off from the day's dramas and celebrate the official beginning of the reunion.

Just for his friends, Finn had made sure to buy each of them a medium size serving of their favorite pizza. Finn himself, of course, had gotten himself a Hawaiian pizza. "Still the best pizza ever," he thought to himself as he felt the delicious taste of the combined cheese, ham, and pineapple toppings fill his mouth with each bite. Rachel, meanwhile, was chowing down on a vegetarian pizza with the same sense of enjoyment that Finn was experiencing with his Hawaiian pizza.

All around them, their friends were also enjoying their pizza. In fact, Quinn and Joe were both hungrily devouring their pepperoni pizzas like a pack of wolves. Even Rory was enjoying his simple plain cheese pizza. "Oh yes," he said out loud to them all with his voice clearly filled with delight as he once again tasted American pizza after so many years. "The pizza-people in Ireland certainly try hard, but the pizza in my homeland still doesn't hold a candle to good old American pizza."

"Certainly glad to hear that," Sam yelled out happily.

"Damn straight it doesn't," Puck said in agreement with his mouth still crammed with a mouthful of meat-lovers pizza. "If you'd said that the pizza in Ireland was actually better than the pizza here in America, then I'd have had to stuff slices of American pizza down your throat until you came to your senses."

Rory glanced nervously at Puck, and asked, "You'd really do that?"

"And get myself arrested for murder? Hell no! That was a joke dude!" Puck replied before giving the Irish man a hearty pat on the shoulder.

Rory sighed in relief and responded, "Thank goodness for that. I'd definitely prefer to live long enough to have children of my own. Still, I am glad that I've waited this long before even thinking of impregnating someone."

Immediately after he said that last bit, Rory gave a sheepish side glance at Puck, whose eyes had hardened into glares, and continued awkwardly, "No offense."

"Harrumph," Puck snorted before swallowing up the last of the bite of pizza he'd had in his mouth before proceeding to take another large bite.

"Dude! Smaller bites man," Sam shouted out after seeing how large the bite Puck had just taken while looking up from his own pepperoni pizza. "Jeez, I thought my mouth was big!"

"Dude," Puck replied with his mouth full "I thought we got these pizzas so we could actually enjoy eating them!"

"Well eating this pizza is not going to be all that enjoyable if we all choke ourselves to death on it yo," Artie countered.

Puck rolled his eyes at Artie and stated, "No one becomes a star by playing it safe A.A!"

"No one becomes a star by simply eating pizza either Puckerman," Rachel countered. Finn smiled, and gave Rachel a high-five.

Puck sighed, swallowed his half-chewed large bite of pizza, and stated, "Well you guys can go ahead and play it safe if you want, but I'm definitely going to go all out here! You're free to join me in it if you wish Quinn."

Quinn looked up from her own pizza, a guilty grimace on her face, and said, "Well, I'd really prefer to live long enough to get married. Besides, we just got here today to hang out together as friends. I don't want to die so soon after we all just got back together."

Puck stared at her. "Seriously?" he asked himself in his mind. "What's with her?" He then saw Joe tap her approvingly on the shoulder, and how Quinn turned her head and smiled happily at him. At the sight of that, Puck couldn't help but feel a slight twinge of jealousy. Was Joe really that much better than him to her? He pushed the unworthy thoughts aside. Finn had already witnessed enough drama today. He did not need any more drama darkening his happiness for this reunion.

After a while, they'd all finished their pizza, and Finn leaned down on the couch with his hands clasped together behind his back. Smiling, Finn said, "Well, I can definitely say that apart from the drama earlier today and the incident with all those paparazzi, this day actually went pretty well."

The other gleeks nodded their heads and mumbled their agreement.

"I can definitely say that I am so glad that we both got all that drama between us out of the way back at the airport, not to mention that we'd managed to get all of our luggage from the baggage claim before Finn came back from the rental car company with all those paparazzi on his heels," said Rachel.

Finn nodded, and chimed in, "I can definitely say that I'm glad about that to. Those people practically ambushed me and were running after me so quickly that I don't even want to think about what would've happened if they'd managed to catch us."

As Finn said this, he shuddered as he remembered exactly how the whole situation had begun.

. . . . .

(Flashback)

Finn was standing at the checkout counter for the rental-car company, finalizing the details on the rentals and financial costs. He had to admit that he felt pretty proud of himself for how well he'd arranged transport for all his friends. From what he remembered of the discussion that he and the others had gone through over transportation details, they'd all more or less agreed on a vehicle.

The vehicles that Finn had chosen to rent consisted of a Volkswagen Golf, a Chevrolet Camaro, a Ford Lincoln, a Mercedes Benz, a Honda Odyssey, and even a Dodge Ram. Two other vehicles that Finn added to the equation were his Jeep Cherokee and the black Maserati that Sugar had driven to get to the airport. Kurt and Blaine had calmed down sufficiently enough to agree to travel together in the Volkswagen Golf. Mike and Tina had agreed on using the Chevrolet Camaro. Santana and Brittany had chosen the Ford Lincoln. Rory and Artie were currently still considering whether or not they'd be willing for the both of them to travel with Sugar in the Maserati. Sam and Mercedes had promptly chosen the car type that served as Mercedes's namesake. Joe had chosen to use the Honda Odyssey, and Quinn was still trying to decide whether she'd be willing to travel with him or with Puck in the Dodge Ram. Rachel, of course, had agreed that she'd be traveling with Finn in the Jeep Cherokee.

Finn smiled when he heard the final cost numbers, and he handed over to his credit card. With the payments finished, the rental agent handed him his card back and told him that he'd find the rentals at the ready a few meters outside of the main entrance to the airport, which just happened to be right next to where he'd parked his car.

He was so happy as he walked off away from the car-rental agency that he didn't realize that he was about to take a wrong turn until he made the turn and found himself getting blinded by the abrupt flashing lights that burst out at him from a large swarm of cameras. Finn started in surprise, disoriented by the sudden bright light.

Right at that moment, a man with reddish brown hair and average build thrusted a microphone up in Finn's face and blustered out, "Mr. Finn Hudson, is it true that you have gathered all your friends from the New Directions glee club during your senior year right here at the airport?"

Finn gaped at the journalist, whom he now recognized as none other than Jacob Ben Israel, and stuttered out, "What the . . . how did you know about that?"

"The staff here are surprisingly helpful. You wouldn't believe how social they are around people these days," said Jake, completely unfazed.

Finn cursed mentally. Of course the airport staff had proven unable to be trusted. He had to get away from this crazy mob and get himself and his friends out of here soon. Boy he hoped that they'd all managed to retrieve all of their luggage.

"So Mr. Hudson, is it true what they told us about you and all your fellow glee club alumni being here at this airport?"

"Uh, that's for me to know, and you lot to find out; and no, I am not going to accept an exclusive interview; hey look there they are!"

The paparazzi and other journalists all turned their heads in the direction that Finn had just indicated. There was no one there. They all turned their heads back towards Finn, and saw the tall well-built Lima native running away in the direction opposite from them, and up an escalator to be exact.

"Hey! Get back here! I need you to answer these questions!" shouted Jacob as he and the rest of the mob started running after him in pursuit.

After what felt like an hour fleeing from the paparazzi, Finn burst out into the baggage claim, where he was happy to see that all fifteen of his fellow gleeks were holding all their carry-ons combined with a collection of other luggage that hadn't been with them when they'd first met back up together that day.

"Does everyone have all their luggage?" Finn asked hurriedly as he continued running towards them.

"Yes we do. Why do you ask?" Rachel asked as Finn rushed right up to her and the others.

"Time to go," Finn said hurriedly in her ear before continuing past her.

"What are you talking . . . ?" Sam began before the front of the large mob of journalists popped out from around the same corner that Finn had taken and stampeded towards them all. "Run!" Sam yelled as he and the other gleeks all took off behind Finn with their luggage in tow and the paparazzi hot on their heels.

. . . . .

"Boy we had a crazy adventure then," Finn said with a smile on his face. The other gleeks laughed in agreement.

"Remember how we all had to split up into groups when we reached that nine-way intersection?" Rachel asked. "I'm definitely glad that the groups we split up into just happened to be the ones that had already been agreed upon more or less for our transports."

Finn chuckled, and chimed in, "I'm with you there. Now that I think about it, I remember how you actually said that being chased by paparazzi was actually fun with me there with you. I'm also not gonna forget in a hurry how you nailed Jacob in the face with that pepper spray of yours when he tried to force his way into the elevator that we were using to escape down to the first floor."

"You what?" the other gleeks yelled in surprise and admiration.

"You heard Finn correctly everyone," said Rachel. "Finn and I had just gotten ourselves and our luggage safely in the elevator when Jacob Ben Israel and the paparazzi that had followed him after us tried to force their way into it after us. Fortunately, within my handbag, I always carry a rape whistle and can of mace. And it wasn't long before I let Jacob have the mace, right in his face."

The other gleeks whooped in admiration, and gave Rachel high-fives.

"Well you should have seen what Benz and I managed to pull off in our little adventure with the paparazzi at the airport," Sam said. Everyone applied their gaze to him and Mercedes, eager to see what they had to say.

Mercedes grinned, and said, "How many of you watched _Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian_?" Everyone but Rory raised their hands.

"Well in that case, I'm sorry that I'm spoiling a plot detail to you Rory."

"It's alright," Rory said with a smile. "This might actually allow me to look forward to eventually watching it even more."

Sam continued, "Well, for those of you who have watched that movie, do you remember the scene in which Larry and Amelia Earhart had the Tuskegee Airmen members form a blockade against the enemy forces on the stairs at the National Air and Space Museum?" Once again, all the gleeks apart from Rory responded in the affirmative.

Mercedes grinned, and finished her and Sam's story by saying, "Well that's what me and Sam got a group of airport security officers to do for us at the top of some stairs. No kidding, after a concise explanation of who we were and what was going on, they all formed a barricade at the top of the stair case and completely blocked it off from the paparazzi that were chasing us while we made our escape running down the stairs and all the way to the car Finn rented out for us." All the other glees cheered happily after hearing this.

"You are so lucky that you got security to help you," Quinn said in approval. "I wish that Joe and I had managed to do that. If we had, then we wouldn't have had to risk hurting the paparazzi or having to leave our luggage behind the way we did."

"What do you mean?" Finn asked. The other gleeks also looked towards Quinn and Joe, curious as to what Quinn and Joe had done in their paparazzi escapade that had involved them running the risk of leaving behind their luggage and causing physical harm to the paparazzi.

Quinn looked meaningfully at Joe, and the dreadlocked man smiled before explaining, "Well, after running for a while down the path we took at the intersection, we ended up finding ourselves at a dead-end. Unfortunately, we didn't have a chance to turn around and go back to find a side route since the paparazzi were already twenty yards or so away from us. Fortunately, someone had left a ladder up against the wall conveniently positioned so that we could reach the floor above the one we were on by climbing it.

"Upon noticing that, Quinn and I threw our luggage up in the air so that it flew over the glass fence that the top of the ladder was leaning against and landed on the floor at the top of the ladder. With our luggage taken care of, I climbed up the ladder in a flash with Quinn following close behind. Unfortunately, right as Quinn was climbing over the glass and onto the third floor, the leader of the paparazzi group pursuing us had already started climbing the ladder as well, and Quinn had to push the ladder away and send it falling down to the ground with the paparazzi still in the midst of trying to climb it."

The other gleeks winced as they thought about how painful that particular experience must have been for the paparazzi who'd been involved. Joe nodded his head in agreement, and finished off by saying, "Anyway, by the time the paparazzi had all regrouped and made it down to the first floor through use of the stairs, Quinn and I had already beaten them there by using an elevator and gotten ourselves loaded up onto the Honda Odyssey that Finn rented for me, and we were out of that airport before the paparazzi were even halfway down the stairs."

The other gleeks cheered. Artie raised his hand soon afterward, and he stated, "That was a pretty smooth trick that you pulled out of your sleeve with the ladder there Quinn."

"Thanks," Quinn said with a smile.

Artie grinned, and continued, "Perhaps you're all willing to hear about the adventure I had with Sugar and Rory in regard to the paparazzi that came after us?" The other gleeks nodded in agreement.

Artie winked at Rory, and the Irish man began the story by saying, "Well by sheer bad luck, we ended up having to use a set of stairs to get to the first floor and to the area where Sugar had parked her Maserati. I remember how we had to hold on tightly to Artie's wheelchair as it bounced up and down in our grasp repeatedly as we ran down the stairs. In fact, if I remember correctly, Artie said in the midst of that experience, and I quote, 'Worst, escape, ever!"

Rory raised and lowered his hands in a way that imitated the up and down bouncing motions that Artie and his wheelchair had made as a result of being taken down the stairs while he said this. All the other gleeks laughed, except of course for Artie who rolled his eyes.

Sugar continued the story, "And the fun didn't stop there either. By the time the three of us got to my car and had loaded our luggage, Rory only realized then that Artie actually was planning on riding in the car with us at that point, and he wasn't all that thrilled about the idea."

Rory chimed in, "Sugar's right. There I was in the driver's seat, ready to go zooming away, but then I just had to finally learn that Sugar was actually now intending for Wheels to ride with us, and had even packed up Artie's luggage in the trunk with mine.

"I remember quite vocally protesting and saying to Sugar, 'No! I will not let Mr. Abrams,' before then seeing the paparazzi get very close to the doors we'd used to get out to the car and hurriedly yelling to Artie, 'Get in! Get in! Get in! Get in!'" The other gleeks laughed uncontrollably as Rory mentioned that incident and proceeded to describe how he'd had to grab Artie by the hands and pull him into back seat area of the car while Sugar had hurriedly folded up Artie's chair and placed it in the trunk before closing it and getting herself in her seat and buckled up right as the paparazzi had started to get dangerously close to reaching their car.

"And the minute that we were all buckled up and ready," Artie stated "Rory gunned down on the gas pedal and we were out faster than a troupe of teleporting leprechauns! And I remember how very soon after we exited the airport and reached the highway leading from the airport to where we stopped off at Domino's, Rory excitedly said, and I quote, 'That's how you get out of a paparazzi-infested American airport! That's how you drive!'" The other gleeks applauded after hearing Artie finish off the story.

"That's a pretty exciting story Wheels," Santana stated. "But you three probably wouldn't have needed to hurry up so much in your escape if you'd done what Brittany did. We were just a few feet from a set of doors leading out to where our rental car was located when we noticed the paparazzi that had been chasing us rush up towards us from right in front of us and very nearly run by the doors we were heading to. Fortunately, the paparazzi were dumb enough to be terrified into thinking that Britt here actually had a gun when she drew her hair dryer out of her purse and brandished it at them like it was a flame thrower! She even shouted at them, 'Back off! Or I will roast you with this fire blaster!' The minute the paparazzi had all backed a sufficient distance from the doors, Brit and I bolted out the doors and made our getaway within the Ford Lincoln that Teen-ranosaurus-Rex rented out for us." The other gleeks cheered and gave Santana and Brittany high-fives.

"You think that was a close call?" Mike asked innocently. The other gleeks turned their heads to hear what Mike had to say. Tine smiled, and patted her husband lightly on the shoulder, indicating for him to go on.

Mike grinned at his wife, looked back at his friends, and explained, "Through sheer bad luck, the route Tina and I took turned out to be a dead-end in which we ended up running up some stairs that ended at a balcony overlooking the first floor from at least two meters or so high. Worse, the minute we turned around to run back down the stairs, we saw the shadow of the oncoming paparazzi crowd come into view at the bottom and start to increase in size." The other gleeks held their breath in suspense and anticipation.

Tina continued, "Fortunately, Mike was not afraid to get a little daring. No kidding, he yelled out to all the people below to get out of the way. The instant the area was clear, he tossed all our luggage off the balcony and then jumped off himself!" The other gleeks gasped in shock.

"You did what? How did you even survive?" Rory asked in bewilderment.

Mike smiled happily at Rory, and replied, "It was a two-meter high drop, so I was easily able to position myself while falling so that I would land on my hands, and thus maneuver myself from that point so that I turned the impact into a roll. The instant I was back on my feet, I just stood there with my arms outstretched, and Tina jumped right off and landed in my arms. Admittedly though, it did take a little coaxing."

The other gleeks laughed and cheered at the end of Mike and Tina's paparazzi story.

"I so would never have expected you to pull off such a stunt," Rachel said in admiration. "Puck I could definitely envision doing that, but not you and Tina."

"Would you have also believed him to be more likely to jump from an escalator going up to an escalator going downwards more than any of us?" Kurt asked innocently with a wolfish grin on his face.

"Yes, why do you ask?"

"That's what Blaine and I ended up having to do," Kurt responded with a completely straight face. The other gleeks gasped as they heard about this other daring stunt.

Blaine chuckled, and backed Kurt up by stating, "You heard correctly guys. Halfway up the escalator, Kurt decided to pull off some desperate measures to escape from the paparazzi that were chasing us, so he pulled a Quinn and Joe by tossing his luggage onto the empty down escalator, repeated the process with my luggage, and then did a sideways somersaulting jump onto it by using the awning of the up escalator as a platform for his hands. I followed immediately afterward by climbing onto the awning so that I had both feet on it before then leaping onto the escalator to join Kurt. Boy the paparazzi's faces were so priceless when they saw us running down the escalator next to them with our luggage in hand."

Kurt chuckled, and finished the story with, "You got that right Blaine, and I even sunk the point further into them by yelling out to them with a wave, 'So long suckers!" This led to more laughter among the assorted gleeks that served as the audience.

At that point, Finn, whose excitement had grown bigger and bigger throughout the sharing of the paparazzi stories, slapped Puck heartily on the shoulder and yelled, "Come on Puck! Let's hear your story! What did you do?" The other gleeks clamored their agreement.

Puck shook his head and replied, "Dude, my story is awfully boring compared to all of yours. You heard Rachel, jumping off a balcony or from an up escalator to a down escalator are the kind of things that she would have expected to be in my story, but those stories have already been told by completely different people than me. How would my story possibly be considered exciting in comparison to stories about pepper spraying journalists in the face or sending a getaway ladder tumbling down right as paparazzi were already in the midst of trying to use it themselves? And trust me, my story didn't involve any events that were even close to being as humorous as Artie being bounced down the stairs like David Tennant was while strapped to that lab table in the season 4 Finale of _Doctor Who_, or Rory and his group pulling off a scene very similar to one involving Garfield and Odie in _Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties_, or not to mention Brittany scaring the paparazzi away by threatening them with a freaking hair-dryer. And don't even ask me if I did anything similar to what Mercedes and Sam pulled off. Any encounters that I could have had with the airport security would not have ended in my favor considering my past record."

Finn countered, "Come on man! We all told you ours! Join in the fun dude!"

Puck sighed, and responded, "Very well then," before straightening up in his seat and saying, "Well, I had nearly reached the top of a down escalator when some paparazzi appeared right in front of me and I was forced to run away, only to find myself trapped between more paparazzi. Apparently the group chasing me had broken up into two. Before long, they had me surrounded with my back up to a wall and the paparazzi all a yard or so away from me on all the other sides. And to make matters worse, they all must have been tipped off about how to deal with me because they were all armed with Tasers."

The gleeks listening all whistled in alarm at the mentioning of Tasers. "Oh my," Rory stated "And I thought that my fan-girls back in Ireland were psychopathic."

"Well fortunately," Puck continued "I soon noticed a certain button right next to me on the wall, and I managed to press it while all the paparazzi were staring me in the face. A few seconds after pressing that button, I said to them, 'Ok you've got me. You were really clever to surround me and arm yourselves with Tasers. But here's a tip; next time you corner me up against a wall . . . make sure it's not the elevator!' The instant I said that, the elevator doors at my back opened and I jumped in. By the time the journalists had come back to their senses and started rushing toward the elevator, it had already closed with me inside it!" The gleeks all let out a roar of applause.

"Ok see there," Kurt yelled. "That right there Puckerman, included both excitement, and humor!"

Puck smiled, and responded, "Well, I guess you're right there."

The other gleeks chuckled. After a while, they all ended up yawning.

"Boy, I'm really getting tired now. This jet lag stuff is a real pain," Rory said groggily.

The other gleeks nodded in agreement over how they were all now quite tired. The hours they'd spent traveling combined with all the earlier drama that had unfolded between them and the escapades with the paparazzi had left them all feeling very worn out. At that point, they all decided that it was time for them to get to wherever they intended to use as their residence point while in Lima.

A quarter of an hour later, Finn and Rachel were the only people left in the house. Puck had driven off in the Dodge Ram to travel over to his mother's house. Blaine and Kurt had already left to go to the Hudson-Hummel household where they'd be staying with Carole and Burt. Tina and Mike had departed to the house where Mike's parents lived, for Tina's parents were back in L.A. caring for Karen and Fufu. Santana had left with Brittany and Rory to drop the latter two off at the Pierce family residence before continuing off to her parents' house. Sugar had left to drop Artie off at his parents' house before returning to the Motta family estate. Sam and Mercedes had departed to drop in at the Jones household. Finally, Joe had left to drop Quinn off at her mother's house before proceeding to his parents' house where he'd be spending the nights for the reunion himself.

Thus, with everyone else out of the house, Rachel and Finn were left standing in the living room. Rachel smiled at Finn, and said, "Well. I guess we're on our own now."

"Are you sure you want to stay here with me Rachel? I mean, I don't mind if you'd prefer staying with your dads. . ."

"Finn, please, I've thought this through all day. I'd very much prefer to stay here. I've already lived apart from you for 22 years, and I'd prefer to start catching up on our lost time together tonight."

"If you say so," Finn replied with a smile. He then looked at the clock and said, "Well in that case, good thing I made sure to stock up on what you'd need for your evening ritual. I think it's time that we both got to bed. I will have you know that I only have one bedroom though."

"That won't be a problem," Rachel said with a smile of her own.

Finn let off his endearing half-grin and responded, "Apparently so."

Rachel giggled, and the two locked arms before proceeding to walk down the hallway leading to Finn's bedroom. As they walked together, Rachel asked Finn, "So, how do you think the first day of the reunion went?"

Finn thought hard to himself, and replied, "Well, I'd say it went pretty nicely, but still could've gone a tiny bit better."

Rachel smiled, patted Finn on the shoulder, and stated, "Well like I said, it wouldn't be a New Directions reunion without at least a tiny bit of drama."

"That's certainly true," Finn said with a grin.

Chuckling, the two good friends entered Finn's bedroom. As they gazed at the large king-size bed that lay invitingly before them, they looked each other in the eyes with a warm smile.

"So, do you have any idea about what we might do tomorrow?" Rachel asked.

Finn chuckled, took a look at the bed, and responded to Rachel, "I think we can worry about that tomorrow. For now, let's just have a good night's sleep together."

And that, at least in Rachel Berry's mind, was definitely a suggestion worth following. Smiling, the two prepared themselves for bed, got into position on the bed, and soon fell fast asleep with Rachel soundly dozing with Finn's right arm wrapped around her by the shoulders. Rachel sighed in content as she felt Finn's comforting grasp around her. Tonight, was definitely one of the happiest nights in her life.

**And just like that, the double update for this Christmas is over. I hope you all enjoyed it, especially with the wonderful Finchel scene at the end. Poor Rachel, having to now live without her true love for the rest of her life, and poor Lea, for this is her first Christmas without Cory :'(. Oh well, at least Cory's now in Heaven celebrating while watching us all from the view of the brightest star up there :'). Anyway, like I said, I hope you enjoyed how the reunion has finally come to a full on start, and how all the season 3 New Directions members are finally together in Lima once more. I hope all the drama in this chapter was enough to satisfy all you drama lovers. Anyway, please read, review, and definitely enjoy! Merry Christmas! :)**

**P.S: I am thinking of making a related Christmas spin off of this story next year. Do you think that's a good idea? :)**

**P.P.S: Coming up next: The sixteen New Directions members of season the 3rd of Glee meet up together at the Lima Bean, and it isn't long before a largely romantic atmosphere begins to fill the air among two married couples, three major couples that will now truly reconnect at long last in this alternate Glee world, one love triangle, and one grossly neglected couple from the canon TV Glee world that will be given a major reawakening in this story! :) Unfortunately, one major alumnus of the glee club is left alone in regard to romance this day. Any guesses as to who? Find out, on the next update! :)**


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